The Guardian of the Avatar
by Neoforcex
Summary: After Naruto first released the Kyuubi he was taken by Avatar Roku to be the Guardian of the new Avatar
1. The Guardian of the Avatar

**The Guardian of the Avatar **

"**I'm going to kill you** **for this**!" Naruto rushed forward, his eyes red with slit pupils and his nails now claws. The mirror shattered and the masked girl jumped out, trying to dive a needle into the back of Narutos neck, he rolled out of the way and dust kicked up by the impact.

The masked girl tried to get into another mirror, but was hit by Naruto that send him tumbling across the bridge. Narutos chakra continued to rise till the demon cloak had two tails, he wanted end it so he charged his chakra into his hand, but before he had a chance to attack Haku he was attacked from behind that sent him forward on ground.

"Took you´re long enough Kimimaro – kun" Haku said and appeared by Kimimaros side "sorry I had to kill the other Konoha Genin and the old man" Kimimaro explained and gave Haku a kiss on the cheek "it´s okay just finish him off I´ll help Zabuza – sama" Haku told and disappeared when she saw Kimimaro nodded in agreement.

Kimimaro looked down at the now powerless ninja "you won´t feel any pain I promise" Kimimaro simply said and pointed his finger at Narutos head. He fired his finger bone bullet at Narutos head and it went straight through his head that was the end of Naruto Uzumaki.

_In the spiritual realm _

Naruto slowly opened his eyes and looked around and saw that he was lying on a field of flowers.

"What is this place?" Naruto asked.

Narutos question was answered by a voice behind him. "This is the spiritual realm it´s the place where you come when you died Naruto" the woman answered while she looked at the now shocked Naruto.

He was now looking at a woman with long red hair in a kimono, her ears sticking out ended in points and she had nine fox tails wagging behind her this was the Kyuubi no Yoko.

"Ky Kyuubi how did you get out of the seal and what did you mean whit this is the place where you come when died?" Naruto asked a little nervous "what I mean is that your died Naruto and that's the reason why I´m free" Kyuubi answered while she was looked sad at Naruto.

"I´m sorry Naruto for everything that happened in your life Naruto" Kyuubi apologized "what are talking about Kyuubi it´s not your reason that the villagers where too stupid to see the difference between you and me" Naruto told Kyuubi and that she looked happier.

"Thank you for your forgiveness Naruto it means a lot to me" Kyuubi remarked whit a smile. "But now I would like to know why we´re still here and didn´t pass over?" Kyuubi asked and looked around.

"Maybe I can answer that question" someone answered behind them, when they turned around they saw a old man who was wearing what was looking like Royal clothes in red. "Avatar Roku what are you doing here?" Kyuubi asked but in her mind she was afraid she already knew what he was going to say "Join me?" he asked and motioned for them to follow.

Kushina sighed and with Naruto followed Roku to a table with a tea setting for three. "Your duty calls guardian or your duty calls Naruto you are the new fire guardian" Roku told while he filled up three tea cups.

"Wait why I am the new fire guardian and what is this duty you're talking about?" Naruto asked "Naruto in my world there is four guardians the dragon for wind, the raccoon dog for earth, the bear for water and the fox for fire and Kushina here (pointed at Kyuubi) was to be the guardian of the Avatar but she disappeared when she was needed most" Roku explained and sipped from his tea cup

Kushina sighed and told her history "I was summoned to your world by what you call an Uchiha he brought me under his control whit the Sharingan. He used me to fight the Shodaime but the Uchiha lost and drive away, the Shodaime was so kind to set me free but I couldn't get back to my own world so I traveled the world in my human world, when I came back to Konoha a couple of years later I met a young blond man and we fall in love after a couple of month, five years later I was pregnant whit a little boy.

But after he was born I was attacked by the same Uchiha. He brought me under his control again and demanded that I should attack Konoha my lover was forced to seal me in our son in you Naruto" Kushina was looking at Naruto to see how he was going to react.

**AN: the first chapter is finished I hope you liked it review so I can do it better next time :-)**


	2. The Family

**The Family**

"Wait so you're telling me that because mom was sealed within me, she had to stay here and I have to be the new fire guardian - The guardian of the Avatar" Naruto said and saw that Roku nodded while he sipped of his tea.

"Sounds kind of fun what should I do?" Naruto asked with a smile on his face while he looked at Roku who looked back at him.

"You will live in this realm for six years. You will spend your first year with your parents. After that you will spend the remaining 5 years whit training you´re bending abilities" Roku answered whit a smile and finished his tea.

"So my father is also here. Where is he?" Naruto asked the now standing Avatar "He is speaking to Lady Faith and will be here soon. You can stay at his home while you´re waiting" Roku answered and then with a sudden he vanished.

"He has to teach me that. So are we going to our new home?" Naruto asked whit a smile while he was looking at his mother.

"Off course lets see how your old man lives and I still won´t to know more about you Naruto" Kushina answered whit a smile as walked away whit her son. She wanted to know more about her son, just because she was sealed in him didn´t mean she knew everything about him.

_Elsewhere in the Realm_

"Avatar Roku has spoken to your son" a woman started "yeah I thought so, what did he tell him?" Minato asked "only that he should be the new guardian nothing more" the woman answered.

"What are they doing now?" Minato asked again referring to Naruto and his mother. "Your son is with his mother, and is happy to finally know her" she answered working on her sewing.

"So he knows?" he asked still looking at the woman. "He knows that Kyuubi is his mother, Kushina, and I think he has figured out that you are his father" the woman answered whit a smile and looked over to the nervous father. Minato swallowed and asked "How will he react when he sees me?" the woman smiled

"That is the joy of parentage. You'll have to wait and see" she answered while she continued whit her sewing.

Minato Namikaze sighed and asked again "so we can't send him back to his world?" "No, not to your world, the Avatar approached him, we need your son in his world. The new Avatar will need his help in the war against the fire nation" she answered.

"Milady…" Minato began but was interrupted. "Minato yours and Kushinas time are over, you can´t come whit him. Spend the time he has here to know him, train him. But know this he won´t remember his past life, that means you can´t teach him Jutsus" the woman told Minato who nodded in understanding.

"I'll teach him all I know about sword man ship, hand to hand battle" Minato began but wanted to know something. "Milady could you tell me what elements Naruto will bend?" Minato asked.

The woman only smiled and showed Minato the tapestry. Minato looked at the tapestry and his eyes widened "You really should learn how to sew Minato-kun. It's relaxing and helps one to focus their mind" the woman simply said and continued her sewing.

"Naruto will have the ability to bend two main elements" the woman answered Minatos question.

Minato swallowed "but can you tell me…will he be happy in his new life?" he asked again. She stopped and looked at him with a smile.

"He will know love, he will have friends, and he will travel the world, have a lot of adventures, excitement. But he will know pain and suffering and loss as well. At least he will have a normal this time" she answered and continued with her sewing.

Minato nodded and said "Thank you, milady" "go spend time with your son. You still have duties to perform" she told whit a smile and made a shooing motion and he vanished.

She spent a moment sewing before stopping and looking at what she was doing, "It will be interesting to see, what will happen from now on" she said whit a smile.

_By Naruto and Kushina_

Minato went home, he knew that Roku told Naruto and Kushina where he lived.

Minato paused as he heard laughing in the living room and saw that Naruto was snuggled against Kushina as they sat on a couch, and both were laughing. They had nearly tears in their eyes.

When Naruto saw Minato he quickly went over to him and hugged him. "I´m happy to meet you dad" Naruto said whit a big smile. "So you're not angry that I sealed your mother in you?" Minato asked a little nervous

"No I understand why you did it I'm happy to finally be with you two" Naruto said while he was hugging his dad. The hugging turned into a family hug a Kushina joined.

"I missed you so much my love" Kushina said while she hugged him tight and looked him in the eyes. "I missed you too honey and I´m glad to have you and Naruto by my side" Minato told and hugged his family tightly.

"Now what did I miss?" Minato asked with smile while they both looked at him and started laughing when they calmed down. Kushina explained. "Naruto here on the day before graduation decided to test his sneaking skills and painted the Hokage Monument." She snickered.

Minato looked at Naruto with an eyebrow raised "hey, it showed that security sucked and I did it in broad daylight wearing this outfit. I could even outrun several Chunnin and some Jounin" Naruto told lifting his jacket away from his chest.

"I even stole the forbidden scroll from the Hokage tower" Naruto told and chuckled remembering how he tricked the Third whit his Sexy jutsu.

Minato shook his head and thought of the things he did when was a child. "I heard you had a visitor while I was gone" Minato began.

Kushina nodded and looked at Naruto "I want to hear more about my son" Minato nodded and pulled up a chair from the kitchen and sat down.

"When you told us your story, I can tell you every stupid thing your father did when he was alive and was the same age as you" she said whit a foxy smile

"Hey!" Minato pouted when Kushina said that. Naruto grinned and Minato admitted it was similar to his, but it was more Kushinas foxy smile.

He studied Kushina and Naruto, he could clearly see the similarities between them. He noticed the slight tips to Narutos ears. He saw the whisker marks were there and knew that it was part of his son's heritage.

He cursed the village and he cursed himself believing that they would honor his dying wish. He decided that he would have a talk with to Soul Reaper and ask if he could collect the souls from Konoha.

He had a few things he would tell the people he sacrificed his life, his son and his wife. But for now they were finally a family again.

Minato looked at Naruto again and thought "_Take Rokus offer my sons the world needs your light and laughter_" Minato thought while he was looking at the most precious in his life whit a smile.

**AN: Chapter 2 is finished and I want to thanks 90MLLu for his help whit this chapter.**


	3. The Awaking

**The Awaking**

Six years went fast for the young Naruto. The first year he was together with his parents - he couldn't have been happier.

The last five he had trained with Roku in the arts of Earth bending. Kushina had trained him in the arts of Fire bending and Minato trained his body strength, agility and in sword man ship.

But now Minato and Kushina was speaking with Roku about the future of their son.

"Roku what did you tell my son and what will happen to him in your world?" Kushina asked after accepting the tea from Roku "I've told him many things since his arrival and I don´t know what will happen to him" the Avatar answered whit a smile.

"Forget it," Kushina said frowning while she was sipping her tea.

Minato took a sip from his tea cup. "You and the Lady didn´t tell us what would happen to our son. We just want know if he will have good life" He began.

"I am sorry but I can´t tell what will happen, the only thing you can do is to look over him" Roku told while he refilled his tea cup.

"His training with me is done. I have never seen anyone who learned so fast like your son has. He will be the greatest Guardian" Roku said again while he was looking at the parents.

"Just like his father" Kushina chuckled and looked over to Minato who smiled back at her.

"I see but now let's see how good he has become," Roku said and turned around with the others to see a boy sparring with a man, who was wearing what looked like a blue fighting suit.

Naruto had just avoided a water whip from the past Avatar and made a hit in the air that sent out a big fire ball to Kuruk who easily avoided with a jump in the air, but that was a failure Naruto used for his advance.

He punched the air with both his hands that sent two rocks towards Kuruk but he was too fast and used his water as a shield.

It worked perfectly since he wasn't hit, but after he let the water go Naruto was gone.

"Looking for me?" someone behind him said.

But before he could look behind him he was hit by a stone which sent him to ground. But that wasn't the end of the attack.

Kuruk's arms and legs were pinned to the ground by some rocks which Naruto had created with his bending abilities.

"It seems that you lost old man," Naruto said with a foxy smile after he let the rocks disappear again.

"You've grown, Naruto. The first time we sparred you didn't hit me once, but now it's me who didn't hit you," Kuruk said with a smile and got on his feet again.

"Thank you for everything," Naruto said while bowing in respect for his friend.

"You did great, Naruto. I'm sure you'll do great as a guardian and I'm very proud of you" Kuruk said with a smile and saw that the others were coming over to them.

"I'm so proud of you," Kushina said while hugging Naruto who was happy to know that he was loved by his parents.

Minato smiled as he watched his wife praise their son, and he had to agree, he too was proud.

"Naruto your training with me is over. You have done great and I know you'll do great as the new fire guardian. But for now, rest with your parents and tomorrow you'll begin your new life, "Roku said with a smile and left the happy family to spend the last time together for a long time.

_The next day_

The day had arrived. Naruto stood whit his mother as Roku approached them and said with a smile, "The time has come."

Naruto nodded but asked, "mom where is dad?" while he looked at her. "He wanted to get your gift" when Kushina answered Minato appeared by her side. "Sorry I´m late. Here Naruto they where special made for you" Minato said to Naruto and gave him two dual knifes.

"Dad I don´t know what to say but thanks" Naruto thanked his father and hugged him, who patted his and his mom hugged him once more.

"I'll miss you so much. I wish I could go with you," she said sadly while she hugged her son.

"Mom," Naruto said and hugged her tighter and let her brush his hair. She kept holding him and looked at Roku.

"You better take good care of him, Avatar, or I will find you and not even Kami herself will stop me from kicking your ass," she said with a threatening voice.

The Avatar nodded his head nervously and said, "Your son will be fine he's a strong bender and he will have many good friends."

Kushina hugged Naruto again and said, "Your father and I love you and will always be proud of you."

Naruto nodded his head and hugged her back "I know mom, I love you too" he said and hugged her tightly. He hugged his father one last time before he followed Roku.

They walked for what seemed like hours, but no one could tell since time was meaningless here.

They stopped before a pool of water. Roku put a hand on Narutos shoulder and said, "Remember all you've learned. When you arrive to my world, you'll be found by people that you can trust them with your life!."

"Thank you for everything, master. I will do my best to help the Avatar to the best of my abilities. We will bring peace" Naruto said while he bowed for respect to his master.

"I know you will but remember Naruto, you are his Guardian, you are not his teacher, and he has to search for them. You won't be able to remember your life as a ninja. When you wake up in my world you´ll believe that you in this world trained in the ways of the guardian but grew up in my world" Roku told while he was looking at him.

"One more thing; take this jacket, you'll need it where you will go," Roku chuckled with a little smile and gave him a red winter jacket.

Naruto nodded and saw that Rokus Avatar markings began to glow. "Good luck Naruto make us proud" Roku told and touched his head and Naruto felt his body becoming heavy and he felt like he was sinking.

The Avatar world

_Southern Continent_

Naruto looked around and saw nothing but snow. The falling snow made it hard for him to see more than a few feet and the blowing wind didn´t make it easier. He shivered when he tried to walk in the snow it was cold. It was a good thing that he saved the winter Jacket from the ship.

He had managed to escape the fire nation troops that followed him but it had cost him his boat.

He walked for hours and it seemed to get colder. He fell down on his knees, he couldn´t walk more his legs were getting numb and he felt his eyes closing when he suddenly heard voices.

"Come on Katara…please let us go back!" A male voice said in a whining fashion "_That´s_ _not the Fire Nation…if I remember right I´m near a Water tribe village_" Naruto thought and lifted his head to see two persons wearing blue winter jackets with white fur. They seemed to be around the same age as him.

"Oh my god Sokka, look! Someone is lying in the snow," a woman said in a worrying tone said. Before Naruto lost consciousness, he saw a girl with a pair of blue eyes and brown hair.

"Let's get him to the village, quickly before he dies" Sokka said and helped Katara carry Naruto back to the village.

_Southern Water Tribe Village_

As Naruto ever so slowly started to regain consciousness, he slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was in a tent.

"It good to see that you finally have awakened, young Kitsune," a voice beside him said. When he turned his head, he saw an old woman who was filling two cups of tea and gave one to Naruto who was now sitting.

"Thanks," he said after he got the tea cup. "But how did you know I was a Kitsune? Where am I? Who are you and the two others outside the tents?" Naruto asked and took a sip from his tea

"Ah, yes, you have many questions but why don't we let our guests in," she said and also took a sip from her tea while she saw her two grand children come in the tent.

"Sorry about that Gran Gran. We only wanted to know who he was," Sokka apologized while he and Katara sat beside her. "It's okay," she said and looked at Naruto.

"The reason I knew what you are, is simply to take a look," she said with a smile and gave Naruto a little mirror.

"Oh yeah, that's right. My ears look a little fox like and whisker marks; I totally forgot to hide them," Naruto said with a chuckle and laid the mirror beside him.

"You are in the Southern Water Tribe Village, my name is Kana, this is Sokka," pointed at Sokka, "and this is Katara," pointed at Katara. "They are my grand children," she said with a smile and took a sip from her tea.

"It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Naruto Kitsune, thanks for rescuing me from the cold," Naruto said while looking at Sokka who was looking at him suspiciously.

"Why are you here and where you're from?" Sokka asked while he still was looking at Naruto who was refilling his tea cup.

"I came from the Earth Kingdom but fled when some fire nation troops came and wanted to kill me. After a couple of days I was lucky to get a boat flee to the sea but they followed me. After a storm I crashed here where you found me," Naruto told them and took a sip from his tea.

"That's right after Sozin started the war!" Katara said while she looked at the others. "He not only declared that dragons should be hunt for glory. No, he knew that the next Avatar would be an Air bender and that a Kitsune should be his Guardian, so he also declared that they should be hunted!"

"But for now, rest Naruto. You can sleep in this tent while you're here and tomorrow you'll go with Katara and Sokka fishing," Kana said and went outside with Katara and Sokka behind her.

_The next morning_

In the arctic waters of the South Pole, a small boat could be seen slowly drifting. Inside were Katara, Sokka and Naruto, all was wearing winter jackets.

Sokka held a spear as he hungrily watched a fish swim by. "It's not getting away from me this time!" he said while he was watching the movements of the fish.

"Watch and learn, Naruto," he said to Naruto who was looking at what he was doing. "This is how you catch a fish," he said again.

Katara threw him a skeptical look and thought, "yeah right." She looked down and spotted another fish. She removed her glove and started waving her hand.

A globe of water holding the fish rose out of the sea. "Sokka, Naruto, look!" she called while she was holding the globe still "Shh Katara, you're going to scare it away," Sokka whispered, not taking his eyes off the fish.

He licked his lips and said, "Mmm, I can already smell it boiling." "But Sokka, I caught one" she said while she continued to move the globe through the air.

Sokka reared his spear back right into the globe, and like a balloon, it popped. The fish jumped back into the sea. "Hey!" Katara yelled while the water splashed on Sokka and Naruto.

"Aah!" they cried. Sokka glared at Katara. "Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" he said a little angry

He could see that Katara sighed and heard her say, "It's not magic, it's water bending and it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, an ancient art unique to our culture, blah, blah," Sokka recited. "You've only told that like 1000 times. Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

Katara and Naruto raised an eyebrow when they heard the last thing Sokka said. "You're calling me weird? I'm not the one who needs to flex my muscles every time I see my reflection!" she said and to prove her point, Sokka was doing it at this very moment, causing him to glare at her.

The boat suddenly shook as it was picked up by a fast current. Sokka and Naruto started paddling to keep from crashing into ice chunks. "Watch out!" Katara yelled when she saw two chunks of ice heading for a collision course ahead of them.

If the boat got caught between them, it would be crushed. "Go left. Go left!" she cried. The boat rammed into several ice chunks before ultimately getting crushed by the ice.

They were forced out of the boat and onto a chunk of ice. Both looked around and realized they were stranded.

"You call that left?" Katara asked and looked at Sokka.

"You don't like my steering? Well maybe you should have water bended us out of the ice!" Sokka said, making a water bending motion.

Katara stood up. "So it's my fault?!" she said a little angry. "No of course not Katara, it was an accident!" Naruto said now standing, trying to calm Katara down.

"I knew I should have left you home. Leave it to a girl to mess things up." Sokka said annoyed.

Katara glared at him. "You are the most sexist, immature, nut brained" she yelled flailing her arms, unconsciously bending the water behind her. "I'm embarrassed to be related to you!"

The iceberg behind her was beginning to crack. Sokka and Narutos eyes widened. "Ever since mom died I've been doing all the work around camp while you've been off playing soldier!"

"Ohm, Katara." Sokka said meekly.

"I even wash all the clothes! Have you even smelled your dirty socks? Let me tell you it's not pleasant!" she yelled again, the iceberg cracking further.

"Dammit, Katara calm down!" Naruto yelled but Katara ignored him and continued yelling at Sokka

"No! That's it! I'm done helping you from now on you're on your own!" The iceberg broke, finally catching Katara's attention. It collapsed and pushed them back.

"Ok you've gone from weird to freakish Katara," Sokka said.

"You mean I did that?" she asked a little surprised.

"Yep. Congratulations," Naruto said with a smile while he was looking at Katara, but suddenly a blue light from sea the caught their attention. The water bubbled as it got bigger.

The light burst out of the water and turned out to be a glowing iceberg. Katara looked closely at the iceberg and saw two figures, one big and one small.

The smaller shape opened its glowing eyes, shocking the teens. "It can't be! I thought, I would never see this happen!" Naruto said and hopped over to the glowing iceberg.

Katara and Sokka followed they wanted to know what was happening.

By the time they got there, they saw something that surprised them. Naruto was holding a fireball in his hands, throwing it at the iceberg.

When the iceberg broke, it released a burst of air that blew them back. It started to crack right through the middle before bursting and a light shot up into the sky. Tiger seals roared but stopped after a big boom.

The light shot into what looked like a big hole in the sky where the same colored light circled down around the beam and crashed into the iceberg.

The steam cleared, allowing the teens to see. They looked at each other then back to the iceberg. Sokka raised his spear as if waiting for something to happen. He didn't have to wait long.

A glowing person rose out the iceberg. A person with a glowing arrow on his head and had glowing eyes. Sokka raised his spear higher but stopped after the glow disappeared and he collapsed.

Naruto was fast and was able to catch him. "It's him, it's really him! The Avatar has awakened!" Naruto whispered so that Sokka and Katara couldn't hear him.

**AN: Finally I finished the chapter hoped you liked. Please review and I want to thank my Beta reader Moonshae she helped me a lot. **


	4. The Fire Nation

**The Fire Nation**

_Somewhere else one the sea _

Katara, Sokka, Naruto, and the Tiger seals weren't the only ones to see the light. On a metal boat not too far away, a teenage boy in red and black armor stared at the light in slight awe before glaring at it.

"Finally," he said. His head was mostly shaved, just a small patch of hair where a ponytail grew out of it. His most noticeable feature however was the scar covering his left eye to his ear.

"Uncle, do you realize what this means?" the boy asked an old man wearing red robes and armor. The man sighed and answered, "That I won't get to finish my game."

"It means," the boy said, completely ignoringthe remark. "That my search is about to come to an end." The old man sighed. "_Here we go again_"he thought.

"That light came from an incredibly powerful source, it has to be him!" the boy exclaimed while he looked at his playing uncle.

"Or it's just the celestial lights. We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing," Zuko's uncle said continuing playing his game of cards.

"Sit, why don't you have a nice cup of calming Jasmine Tea?" he asked and showed him the tea. "I don't need any tea calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!" Zuko exclaimed.

"Helmsman; steer the boat towards the light" Zuko said again and pointed at where the light was seen. The uncle sighed and placed an air card over another air card. A breeze swept through the area.

_Back to the teens_

Sokka poked him with his spear. Naruto swatted him away. "Stop!" he said and gently laid him down.

The bald one slowly started to awaken. He opened his storm grey eyes and saw a boy with blond hair. But when he saw Katara, he gasped and thought, "_Beautiful_."

"I need to ask you something," he said weakly to Naruto who leaned a bit closer to the boy. "What?" he asked.

"Please come closer," the boy said again.

"What is it?" Naruto asked.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?" the boy asked excitedly.

Katara raised an eyebrow at his sudden burst of energy and heard Naruto say, "Uh, sure, I guess."

While they were talking, Sokka was studying the boy with the arrow on his head. He was wearing yellow clothing. "_Earth Kingdom?_" he thought but the lack of green clothing told him otherwise.

"_Orange and yellow… Why does that sound familiar_?" he thought again. The bald kid floated to his feet. "What's going on here?" the kid asked.

"You tell us," Sokka said, pointing his spear at him. "How'd you get in the ice? Why aren't you frozen?" he asked while not taking his eyes from the boy. "I'm not sure," he answered.

A deep growl startled them all. The tattooed boy scampered up the hill of ice and jumped down on a big furry animal. "Appa are you alright? Wake up boy." He tried to nudge it awake.

The other three walked around and gasped at the sight of Appa, who licked the arrow boy. "You're okay!" the boy said happily. "What the hell is that?!" Sokka yelled.

"This is Appa, my…" But before he could completely answer the question he was interrupted by Naruto, "…flying bison! Wow I never thought I would see one for real!_._ This is incredible!" Naruto said excitedly while he looked at Appa.

"Yeah, right, and this is Katara, my flying sister," Sokka said sarcasticallywhile he pointed at her. Appa sneezed, shooting snot out of his nose.

The boy ducked in time, leaving Sokka to get covered in snot. "Eww! Ugh!" He rolled on the ground to get it off. "Don't worry Sokka, it'll wash out!" Naruto said with a smile while he looked at Sokka who rolled in the snow.

"So, do you guys live around here?" the bald boy asked Katara, but before she could answer Sokka interrupted.

"Don't answer that! Did you see that crazy light beam? He was probably trying to signal the Fire Navy!" he said while he pointed his spear at the arrow-marked boy.

"Give me that!" Naruto said and took the spear from Sokka while Katara rolled her eyes and said, "Oh yeah, a Fire Navy spy. You can tell by the evil looks in his eyes." Baldy grinned innocently.

"The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka, the blond one is Naruto and my name is Katara. You never told us your name" she said and looked the boy.

"I'm A-ah-ACHOO!!" the bald kid sneezed and flew into the sky. He landed softly and sniffed "I'm Aang" he said with smile.

"You just sneezed and flew 10 ft. in the air!" Sokka stated incredulously while he looked at Aang. "Really? It felt higher than that," he said and looked up in the air.

"Yep, defiantly higher. I think it was more than 17 ft," Naruto concluded while also looking in the air and then back to the others.

Katara gasped and said, "You're an air bender!"

"Sure am," Aang said with smile. "You're more than that. You're the Avatar," Naruto whispered so that only Aang could hear. "Don't worry, I won't tell them. It's up to you to do that. We can talk later," Naruto whispered and saw Aang nod.

"Giant light beams…big holes in the sky…flying bison…air benders…I think I've got the Midnight Sun Madness. I'm going home where things make sense," Sokka told and turned, around but then realized that there was no way off the iceberg.

"Well if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift," Aang said and air bended himself onto Appa's head. "I'm definitely going with you! I always wanted to ride a flying bison," Naruto said with a smile hopped into the back saddle.

"We'd love a ride, thanks!" Katara said and bowed. "Oh no, I am not getting on that fluffy snot monster!" Sokka protested.

"Are you hoping some other kind of monster will come along and give you a ride? You know…before you freeze to death," Katara said with a smile. Sokka started to say something but stopped and gave up.

Naruto laughed, "I like you." he said to Katara. Sokka crossed his arms in annoyance while Katara and Naruto seemed excited.

"Okay. First time flyers hold on tight!" Aang called. "Appa yip yip!" he said to Appa who flapped his tail and jumped into the air…and fell into the water, starting to swim.

"Wow. That was truly amazing," Sokka says full of sarcasm.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky," Aang said and made a soaring motion with his head. "You'll see," he smiled back at them, particularly at Katara.

He stared at her brown hair, tanned skin, and ocean blue eyes. "Why are you smiling at me like that?" she asked, noticing his stare. "Oh I was smiling?" he said and heard that Sokka groaned and Naruto smiled.

_One the metal boat _

Zuko, now in bed robes, looked towards the setting sun. Iroh came up to announce that he was going to bed. Iroh yawned, "A man needs his rest. Prince Zuko, you need some sleep. Even if you're right and the Avatar is alive, you won't find him. Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all tried and failed," Iroh told him.

"Because their honor didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture!" Zuko's eyes hardened. "Mine does! This coward's hundred years of hiding are over," he said while he continued looking at the sun.

_Back to the teens_

Aang lay on Appa's head staring at the sky. Naruto was staring at the ocean. Sokka was asleep. Katara, bored and tired, turned to Aang and said, "Hey." Aang looked at her and asked, "Hey what are you are thinking of?"

"Well, you're an air bender; I was wondering if you knew what happened to the Avatar?" she asked him.

Aang looked at Naruto and saw he was looking directly at him but he looked back at Katara. "Uh, no. I didn't know him. I knew people who knew him, but I didn't, sorry," he answered.

"Okay just curious. Goodnight," she said a little disappointed. "Sleep tight," Aang said and turned away with a grimace.

"Goodnight Aang. Goodnight Appa. Goodnight Katara," Naruto called, Appa growled. "Goodnight Naruto," Aang and Katara called back.

_Aang's nightmare _

_Aang woke up alone in the saddle during the middle of a storm. He struggled to control Appa's reign but failed. He screamed as they crashed into the water. They made it back to the surface but were pushed down by a wave._

_They both slowly sank as Aang slowly lost consciousness. Suddenly, his eyes and tattoos glowed and he slammed his hands together. The water around him and Appa started to freeze. _

"Aang! Aang, wake up!" Katara's voice sounded.

_In the real world_

Aang's eyes shot open. He sat up gasping. "Man, and people say _I'm_ a heavy sleeper." Naruto chuckled.

"Come on, get ready. We're in the village and everyone wants to meet you," Katara said while Aang pulled on his clothes.

Katara pulled him outside where a group of women and young children was waiting. "Aang, this is the village. Entire village, Aang," Katara said to the villagers. They eyed the bald boy and slowly backed away a bit.

"Why are they looking at me like that?" Aang asked Katara. Naruto recognized the look in their eyes "They're afraid of you," Naruto answered for her.

Kana stepped up. "Not so much afraid as surprised. No one has seen an air bender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct until my granddaughter and grandson found you," she told.

"Extinct?" Aang whispered "_What's she talking about?_" He thought. "This is my grandmother," Katara introduced the old woman. "Call me Gran-Gran," she said simply.

Sokka snatched Aang's staff and said, "What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this," while he was observing the staff.

Aang used air bending to suck the staff back to him. "It's not for stabbing. It's used for air bending," he explained. Orange fan-like wings popped out.

"Magic trick, do it again!" a little girl said with a cute smile while she clapped in her hands. "It's not magic, it's air bending," Aang corrected and said, "It lets me control the air currents around my glider and fly."

Sokka snorted and said, "Last time I checked, humans couldn't fly." Aang smirked. "Check again," he said and shot up into the sky. He sailed through the air doing twists and turns, loops, and spins, much to the awe of the villagers.

Distracted from all the attention he was getting, Aang didn't see the snow tower he crashed into seconds later. He fell out and plummet to the ground.

"My watchtower!" Sokka cried. Katara helped Aang up and said, "That was amazing!"

The children turned to Naruto. "Can you do that?" one boy asked. Naruto shook his head and said, "I can't fly." The children groaned. "But I could show you the Kitsune illusion," he said again with a smile.

"An illusion," the same boy said while he looked at the now smiling blonde who suddenly changed to a second Sokka. Everyone's eyes widened and jaws dropped. "Hello," he said in Sokka's voice.

"That's so cool!" Aang exclaimed with a big smile and saw that Naruto strutted around the villagers "I'm Sokka, a moody, stuck up, jerk of a warrior," 'Sokka' said causing everyone to snicker.

Sokka threw a snowball at him and said, "I don't sound like that and I don't act like that!" "Yes you do," Katara countered, still laughing.

Sokka looked at Naruto who had changed back. "Hey Naruto can I talk to you alone?" he asked and saw that Naruto nodded. They went away from the group.

"Your fire bender, aren't you?" Sokka said seriously while he saw that Naruto sighed

"Yeah, I am, but don't think I'm fire nation spy. What I told you, after you saved me wasn't a lie but what I didn't tell you, was that I'm the fire Guardian…" Naruto told and looked at the surprised Sokka.

"You mean you're the Guardian of Avatar? Who is it and where is he?!" Sokka asked with a surprised tone. He wanted answers but was disappointed at what he heard.

"If he wants to tell you he will," Naruto answered and went back to the others where he heard Aang say. "You're a water bender!" Aang exclaimed while he looked at Katara

Katara shrugged. "Well…sort of. Not yet" she told him and saw her grandmother come over to them. "All right. No more playing. Katara has chores," Kana said and walked away again, Katara sighed and walked away with her grandmother.

"I can't believe it Gran-Gran. I finally found a bender to teach me!" she said excitedly. "Katara don't put all of your hopes in that boy," Kana told her grandchild

"But Aang's special, I can tell. I can sense he's full of wisdom," Katara said.

They looked over at Aang. He had his tongue stuck to his staff. "Sthee? Now my tongue ith thuck to my sthaff." The children laughed.

_On the Fire Nation ship_

Zuko faced off against two of his fire bending crew members. Iroh sat nearby, observing. "Again!" he told. Zuko shot blasts of fire at them which they ducked.

One retaliated with his own blast that Zuko avoided then back flipped over a blast from the other soldier. While in mid-air Zuko punched and kicked blasts of fire at both of them, but they blocked it. He landed facing his opponents.

Iroh sighed and said, "No! Power in fire bending comes from the breath, not the muscles. The breath becomes energy in the body; the energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." He shot a fire blast that stopped short of Zuko's face. "Get it right this time" he told again with stern voice.

"Enough! I've been drilling this set all day. Teach me the next set, I'm more than ready" Zuko said angrily to his uncle. "No! You are impatient. You haven't mastered the basics yet. Drill it again!" Iroh said and sat down on a chair.

Zuko growled and blasted a guard down with fire. "The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last air bender! He must be over a hundred years old. He's had a century to master the elements. I'll need more than basic fire bending to defeat him," Zuko exclaimed while he looked angrily at Iroh.

Iroh frowned. "You WILL teach me the advanced set!" Zuko nearly yelled. Iroh relented and said in a happy voice, "Fine, but first I must finish my roasted duck."

Zuko grimaced at his uncle pigging out and thought, "_How did he go from strict master to disgusting slob_?"

_Back in the Village_

Sokka was telling his soldiers what to do when the fire nation attacked.

"Now men, it's important to show no fear when facing a fire bender. In the Water Tribe, we fight till the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?" Sokka turned to his soldiers…his 6-year-old soldiers.

"I got to go pee…" one boy announced. "Listen! Until your fathers return from the war, they're counting on you to be the men of the tribe, so no potty breaks." Sokka told them again, but the boy raised his hand again

"But I really have to go!" the boy protested, Sokka sighed and asked a little annoyed. "Okay. Who else has to go?" All the kids raised their hands. Sokka slapped his forehead and thought, "_We're doomed_."

"Have you seen Aang?" Katara asked while she went over to her brother. "Gran-Gran said he disappeared over an hour ago," she said again.

Aang crawled out a small igloo. "Wow. You were right Naruto, everything freezes in there," he said with a smile. Naruto chuckled at what Aang said. "See how I wrote my name?" he said while he pointed at the snow. The children laughed.

Sokka groaned and turned to his sister. "Katara get them out of here! This lesson is for warriors only!" he told and looked at how the children were using Appa's tail as a slide and landed on in a pile of snow.

"Stop! Stop it now!" Sokka yelled and glared at the two outsiders. "What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on."

"War?" Aang asked and hopped down from Appa. "What are you talking about?" he asked again while he looked at the three teens. "You're kidding, right?" Sokka asked sarcastic.

"No, he doesn't know," Naruto answered while he looked over to Sokka.

Aang looked behind Sokka and exclaimed, "PENGUIN!" Said penguin waddled away. Using air bending Aang zoomed after it.

The siblings and Naruto stared at where Aang ran off to. "He's kidding right?" Sokka asked again sarcastic. "Oh man he has much to learn," Naruto said with a sigh while he went after Aang.

_Penguin field_

Katara and Naruto walked into the field looking for their target. Katara spotted Aang chasing penguins. "Come on little guy. I want to go sledding?"

They looked at Aang face down in the snow. He turned to them and smiled. "I have a way with animals." Aang started walking and talking like a penguin, amusing the other two.

Katara giggled. "Aang, I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me water bending."

"Deal!" Aang said with a smile. "But, I'm an air bender not a water bender," he realized. "Isn't there someone else who can teach you?"

Katara shook her head. "No. You're looking at the only water bender in the whole South Pole." She answered while she looked at Aang who was looking thoughtful.

"What about the Northern tribe? They still have a lot of Water benders who could teach you," Naruto told while he looked over at Katara. "Maybe, but we haven't had contact with our sister tribe in a long time and it's on other side of the world" Katara said.

"Yeah but you are forgetting that I have a flying bison. Appa and I could personally fly you to the North Pole and find a master to teach you Water bending," Aang said with a smile "I don't know… I've never left home before…" Katara said, unsure.

"Well you think about it. In the meantime, could you please teach me how to catch a penguin?" Aang asked.

"I want to learn too," Naruto added with a foxy smile.

"Okay listen closely my young pupils. Catching penguins in an ancient and sacred art Observe," she explained and pulled out two fishes and tossed them at the boys. They were instantly surrounded by penguins.

_A couple of_ _minutes later _

Aang, Katara, and Naruto shot off into a snow bank riding penguins. They sped down the hill, laughing and whooping. Aang jumped off an ice ramp gaining the lead over the other two. Katara and Naruto jumped off their own ramp catching up to him.

"This is awesome!" Aang said with a smile while looking over at the smiling Katara. "I know! I haven't done this since I was a kid!" she said. "You're still a kid!" Naruto added with a smile.

They entered an ice tunnel. Light shined in from various holes creating a number of blue hues that made the experience surreal. They slid out the tunnel and stopped in front of a ship frozen in ice.

"Whoa. What is that?" Aang asked while he looked at the old ship "A Fire Navy ship and a very bad memory for my people…" Katara answered while she looked at the fire nation flag.

Aang headed towards the ship too. "Wait. We're not allowed to go in there. The ship may be booby trapped!" Katara told Aang who just turned and said, "If you want to be a bender you have to let go of fear."

Katara gulped but followed Aang into the ship. Naruto was the last one to go in the ship. The hallways of the ship scared Katara but the other teens didn't seem affected at all.

"Why are you so scared Katara?" Naruto asked, noticing her discomfort. "This ship has haunted my tribe since Gran-Gran was young. It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks," Katara answered while she looked around the ship.

"Okay, back up, I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation. I've never seen any wars." Aang said while he now looked at Katara

Naruto turned to Katara and said, "We have to tell him Katara…"

Katara looked at Aang. "Yeah your right. Aang… how long do you think you were in that iceberg?" she asked while she looked at Aang who was looking thoughtful.

"I don't know…a few days maybe?" he answered while looked over at Naruto and Katara. "Aang, you were in the iceberg for a hundred years!" Naruto said a little seriously.

"What?!" he yelled. "That's impossible. Do I look like a hundred-twelve year old man to you?" Aang questioned.

"Well think about it Aang. The war is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow you were in there that whole time. It's the only explanation," Katara answered.

Aang stumbled backwards into the wall and sunk to the floor. "It's unbelievable," he said. "We're so far away from home."

Katara kneeled next to him. "I'm sorry, but maybe somehow there's a bright side to this," she said consolingly.

"Well, I did get to meet the two of you and Sokka," he said with a smile. Naruto and Katara smiled at what Aang said. "See. Let's get out of here," she said again and stood up with Aang.

They walked into a dark room. "Guys, let's head back. This place is creepy" Katara said a little nervous.

"What are you talking about Katara? There's nothing to worry about along as I'm here." As soon as Aang said that he tripped over a wire. A grate door dropped down, closing them in.

"What was that you said about booby traps?" Naruto asked with a smile. Aang rubbed his head in embarrassment and said, "My bad."

Equipment started to go off around them. "_I got a bad feeling about this_" Katara thought. A flare shot up into the sky. The three stared at it.

"Dammit" Naruto muttered.

Aang lifted Katara bridal style. "Hold on." He jumped through a hole in the ceiling. Naruto jumped after him.

They hopped down, unaware they were being watched.

_On the Fire Nation ship_

Zuko looked at the hopping figures. "Whoever he is, he's quite agile for his age," he mused out loud. "Wake my uncle! Tell him I found the Avatar…" he ordered and looked back through the telescope and looked to where they were headed, the village.

"…as well as his hiding place," Zuko said again and glared at the village "_You're mine now_" he thought with a final look.


	5. The Avatar state

**The journey begins**

Aang, Katara, and Naruto trekked back to the village. Katara looked back at the flare, still in the sky. She had a good feeling there was going to be trouble because of that.

Katara looked ahead. All the villagers were standing outside the village. As they approached, most of the children ran out and gathered around the boys.

Sokka pointed at the boys and nearly yelled "I knew it! You signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them here!"

"They didn't do anything. It was an accident." Katara said, defending them.

"Yeah we were on the ship…and the booby trap…I set it off-" Aang looked at crowd glaring at him. He rubbed the back of his neck. "My bad?" he ended weakly.

Gran Gran shook her head and looked at her grandchild, "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!" she told her serious.

"Don't blame Katara," Aang spoke. "She warned me about the ship, but I didn't listen and I convinced her to go her," Aang said defending Katara.

"Aha!" Sokka shouted triumphantly. "The traitor confesses. Warriors away from the enemy," he ordered. "The foreigners are banned from our village!" he added seriously.

"Sokka, you're making a mistake," Katara argued. "No. I'm keeping my promise to dad," Sokka retorted. "I'm protecting you from threats like them!" he said again while looking seriouslyat Katara.

"They are not our enemy!" Katara yelled. "Don't you see? They've brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun," she said again getting angrier at her brother.

Sokka scoffed. "Fun? We can't fight fire benders with fun."

"You also can't fight them with 6-year-olds," Naruto added and looked at Sokka. "Get out of our village!" Sokka yelled. "Grandmother, please don't let Sokka do this," Katara pleaded.

"Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it is best if the outsiders leave," Kana told her seriously.

Katara was stunned. Couldn't they see Aang and Naruto weren't dangerous? She was angry, angry at Sokka for being tyrannical.

Angry at her grandmother for being so narrow-minded. Well if Sokka could make a decision like this, so could she.

"Fine!" she screamed. "Then I'm leaving too! C'mon guys, let's go." She took them by the arm and walked off.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka questioned while he looked at her. "To find a water bender! They're taking me to the North Pole!" Katara yelled back.

Aang blinked. "We are?" He looked at Naruto, who shrugged, then smiled brightly. "Great!"

Sokka frowned. "Katara… You wouldn't choose them over your tribe, your own family, would you?" Sokka voiced his thoughts out loud.

This made Katara stop and think. "_I don't know. Would I?_" She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Naruto. "Katara, family isn't something you should take for granted. Stay with them," Naruto added before walking over to Appa.

"Katara, I don't want to come between you and your family," Aang said before he followed Naruto over to Appa

"So, you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asked sadness evident in her voice. "So this is a goodbye?" she asked again sadly. "Afraid so," Aang said equally sad.

"Where will you go?" Katara asked. "Guess I'll go back home, look for the air benders." Realization hit Aang. "Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."

"Mind if I come along? I have nowhere to go and two is better than one," Naruto asked while he looked at Aang. "Sure" Aang answered and hopped onto Appa together with Naruto.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air boy!" Sokka sneered. "Come on Appa, you can do it. Yip yip!" Appa groaned, but only stood up. Sokka snorted and said, "I thought so."

A little girl wailed and ran up next to Katara. "Don't go. We'll miss you," she said with a sad voice. Aang looked at her sadly and said his goodbye. "We'll miss you too."

Naruto waved and said, "Goodbye."

Aang looked at Katara who looked back at him with sad eyes. Aang turned away and snapped the reigns and they left the village. The little girl walked back sadly.

Gran Gran walked up to Katara. "Katara, you'll feel better after you-" but Katara cut her off. "You're happy now? There goes my one chance of becoming a water bender!" she nearly yelled and stormed off, leaving Gran Gran feeling guilty.

"All right, ready our defenses! The Fire Nation could be on our shores any moment!" Sokka yelled to his 'troops'. "But I gotta-"One of the boys asked but was interrupted by Sokka. "And no potty breaks!" he said a bit annoyed.

_A couple minutes later_

Aang, Naruto, and Appa were resting in the holes of an ice formation. Appa rumbled. "Yeah I liked her too," Aang responded.

"Aang, I have to tell you something," Naruto started and saw that Aang was listening. "Did the monks ever tell you about the Guardian of Avatar?" Naruto asked while looking at Aang.

"Yeah they told me that every Avatar had a guardian. Rokus guardian was the wind guardian. Together they were a great team. The monks also told me that my guardian would be a fire guardian," Aang told.

"That's right. I am your fire guardian Aang," Naruto said and looked at the shocked Aang. "I'm glad that you told me Naruto, but it seems we have a problem," Aang said while he looked at the water.

Naruto followed his gaze and gasped. "Shit it´s a Fire Nation Navy ship. It´s heading to the village!" he said.

"We have to help them. Appa, wait here! C'mon Naruto," Aang said and went to save the village together with Naruto.

_In the village_

Sokka decided that if he should fight the fire nation he was going to do it dressed as a true water tribe warrior. He put on his toughest leathers, pulled on his gloves, tightened his tunic, and put on black, white, and grey war paint on his face.

_On the fire nation boat_

With the help of his attendants, Zuko was fitted into his armor. He was taking no chances with this battle. A helmet with a flame emblem on the front was placed on his head. Zuko was expecting this to be the battle of his life. Little did he know how wrong he would be.

_Back in the village _

Sokka stood on top of the ice wall serving as lookout. Suddenly everything started to shake as a rumbling noise boomed.

The villagers looked up in alarm. Parts of the ice wall, including Sokkas watchtower, crumbled. "Ah man," Sokka moaned. A huge shadow could be seen through the mist approaching the village. "Oh man!" Sokka's voice cracked.

The ship broke through the ice, cracking the ice all the way into the village. Katara just barely rescued a kid from the crack. She put him in a tent and turned to her brother.

Sokka was still on the wall with his club raised like he was going to attack the ship with it. "Sokka get out of the way!" he heard Katara scream. He wanted to, but pride, determination, fear, and stupidity kept him there.

The ship finally reached the wall causing it to fall back. Somehow the part Sokka was standing on stayed intact and he only slid backwards.

The bowsprit opened down with screech almost crushing Sokka, who barely moved out the way. The steam cleared, revealing Zuko and several Fire Nation soldiers. As they walked down the new gangplank, Zuko scanned the crowd, looking out for someone who looked like an Avatar.

Sokka, getting his bearing straight, charged at Zuko with a war cry. Zuko easily kicked the club away and then kicked Sokka headfirst into the snow. The tribe gasped at how easily Sokka was beaten.

They stepped back as the soldiers reached them. Zuko looked at the crowd, "Where are you hiding him?" Zuko questioned. The villagers were confused and didn't respond.

He grabbed Gran Gran out of the crowd. "He'd be about this age and is master of all four elements." Zuko explained but they still had no idea what he was talking about.

He pushed Gran Gran back then let loose a wave of fire over their heads. The villagers cringed. "I know you're hiding him!" Zuko yelled.

Sokka, recovered from the fall, picked up his club and charged at Zuko with another war cry. Zuko mentally sighed. "_Stupid water peasants" _he thought and ducked under Sokka, flipping him over his head.

Zuko then fired a blast of fire at Sokka. Sokka rolled out of the way and threw his boomerang at the Fire Prince. Zuko just narrowly avoided being hit in the head with it.

A little boy tossed Sokka a spear with a cry of "Show no fear!" Sokka charged at Zuko for a third time, no more successful than the previous times.

Zuko easily broke the head of the spear then snatched it from Sokka and bonked him on the head several times knocking Sokka down.

Behind Zuko, the boomerang came back and hit Zuko in the head, knocking his helmet out of place. He readjusted it and glared down at Sokka. Two fire daggers formed from his hand.

Before he could do anything, Aang slid in from behind on a penguin and swept the fire bender off his feet with his staff. Zuko landed face down with his butt in the air, his helmet landing on it.

Aang slid by the cheering children, covering them in snow. They stopped annoyingly, but then started up again. Aang slid to a stop and pushed off the miffed penguin.

"Hey Katara, hey Sokka," Aang greeted like nothing was wrong. "Hey Aang, thanks for coming" Sokka thanked dryly.

Zuko got up and went into a fire bending stance. Aang adopted a serious look on his face and held his staff in front of him. "Give up. You have no chance in winning this fight," Aang announced.

"Don't make me laugh. _You're_ the one with out a chance," Zuko said with a smile while looking at the now smiling Aang.

Suddenly Naruto jumped out of snow and attacked Zuko with a fireball, but Zuko was fast and avoided the attack. "Naruto," Katara beamed.

Zuko saw that Naruto now was fighting his soldiers, so now he could focus on Aang. "You're the Air bender! That means you´re the Avatar!" Zuko said. Everyone's eyes widened.

Zuko and Aang circled each other. "I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating and now I find out that the Avatar is a _child!_" Zuko shouted.

Aang relaxed his stance. "Well you're just a teenager," he said with a shrug. Zuko fired several blasts of fire at Aang. Aang twirled his staff to him.

Some of the fire however reached over the villager's heads, causing them to cry out. Aang realized that if this continued, someone innocent would get hurt.

"If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?" Aang asked, signifying his surrender.

Zuko never had any intentions of harming anyone, well, after seeing there were no threats. He wasn't above threatening and scaring women and children, but he wouldn't harm defenseless people.

Zuko nodded. A soldier took his staff and Aang was lead to the ship. Katara rushed forward. "No, Aang! Don't do this!" she cried.

Aang smiled at her and said, "Don't worry Katara, it'll be okay." He was pushed forward. "Naruto, take care of Appa for me until I get back," he said and saw Naruto nod.

"Head a course to the Fire Nation. I'm going home," Zuko ordered. Aang looked back at the tribe with a sad smile as the gangplank rose. His smile dropped when he saw that Katara was crying.

He knew his decision to give himself up was best for the village, but after seeing Katara he felt bad about it. The bowsprit completely shut and the ship started to depart.

Nobody noticed that Naruto had disappeared and nobody noticed that Zuko came with six soldiers and left with seven.

A few hours had passed since Aang was taken. The mood of the villages was somber. Not only did they banish the Avatar from their village earlier, but they were helpless when the Fire Nation took the world's last hope for peace.

Out by the water's edge Katara stared at the horizon while Sokka was carrying some materials behind her. "We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our tribe, now we have to save him." Katara declared.

"Katara I-" but Sokka was interrupted by Katara "Why can't you realize that he's on our side? If we don't help him, no one will. I know you don't like Aang, but we owe him and I-"

"Katara!" Sokka yelled, tired of hearing his sister rant. "Are you going to talk all day or are you coming with me?" he gestured to a canoe all set to go.

Katara gasped happily and hugged him. "Get in. We're going to save your boyfriend" Sokka said with a smile while he looked at his sister who blushed.

"What do you two think you're doing?" a voice interrupted. They turned to Gran Gran, who was giving them a stern look before smiling at them.

"You'll need these. You have a long journey ahead of you," she said with a smile and handed them a blue bundle, shocking the two teens.

"It's been so long since I've had hope. But you brought back to life, my little water bender." Kana told and hugged Katara then turned to Sokka.

"And you, my brave warrior." Sokka stood tall expecting some sort of praise. "Be nice to your sister," she said and hugged him, too. Sokka deflated and barely returned his grandmother's hug, saying, "Yeah. Okay Gran."

"Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason. Now your destinies are intertwined with his," Kana told her grandchildren.

Katara looked at the canoe and sweat-dropped. "There's no way we're going to catch up with a war ship with _this…_" As soon as she had said that Appa appeared from over a hill with a roar. "Appa!" She ran happily towards the sky bison.

"You just love taking me out of my comfort zone, don't you?" Sokka asked annoyed. "And where's Naruto?! Why isn't he coming with us?!" he asked again looking around.

_On the fire nation boat_

On the deck of the ship, Zuko and Aang faced each other, Zuko holding Aangs staff. By his side were his uncle and a guard. Aang had his hands bound behind him and was surrounded by Zukos guards.

Zuko inspected the staff. "This will make an excellent gift for my father," he said and looked at Aang. "I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers, being raised by monks," he said again with evil smile.

Aang glared at Zuko. "Take the Avatar to the prison hold. And take this to my quarters," he ordered, handing the staff to Iroh and walked away.

Iroh looked at the guard next to him and handed him the staff. "Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" It was more of a command than a question.

Aang looked back at his staff as he was being lead down to the lower levels of the ship. Aang looked at the guards. "_One in front, two behind him, not a problem_" he thought with a smile.

"So…I guess you never fought an air bender before. I bet I can take you all on with my hands tied behind my back," he said. "Silence!" one off the guard behind him barked.

They reached a door and stopped for the lead guard to unlock it. Aang took a deep breath while one off the guards behind him raised his hand and punched the guard next to him, surprising Aang and the other guard.

"What are you doing?" the lead guard demanded. The guard chuckled and suddenly transformed into Naruto. "Naruto!" Aang yelled, surprised.

"What the hell?!" The guard said surprised and got into a fighting stance. Aang quickly inhaled and blew a strong wind that slammed the guard into the door, knocking him out.

This however caused Aang to fly into Naruto all the way down the hallway. Naruto took the brunt of the impact while Aang jumped off Naruto onto the deck, unscathed. "You okay Naruto?" Aang asked while he looked at Naruto.

Naruto looked up at him dizzily. "Yeah just fine but don't that again" he answered with small smile and stood up again. "What are you doing here Naruto?" Aang asked while Naruto cut him free "I wouldn't be a great guardian if I let you die so fast," Naruto answered with a smile.

Aang looked at where his staff was taken to. "Aang let's go!" Naruto called. "Wait. I need to get my glider back." Aang kicked the door open with air bending.

"We don't have time for that. We've got to go now!" Naruto said again to Aang who turned to him and said, "If we get my glider back, we won't have to swim in freezing cold water" Aang told Naruto with a smile.

"What are we waiting for? Let's get that glider!" Naruto followed Aang into the command tower. But one of the guards who should bring Aang to the cell wasn't unconscious yet.

"There's a stowaway onboard! He's freed the Avatar!" a guard yelled.

_By Appa and the siblings_

Sokka sighed and tried again. "Go…Fly…Soar." For the past ten minutes he and his sister had been riding on Appa, the _flying_ bison. Sokka rolled his eyes and thought "_More like Appa the normal bison._"

"Please Appa, we need your help. Aang needs your help," Katara pleaded without luck. "Up…Ascend…Elevate," Sokka tried again, but it didn´t help.

Katara shot Sokka a look, but tried again to get Appa flying "Sokka doesn't believe you can fly, but I do Appa." She rubbed his head. "Come on. Don't you want to save Aang?" she said again.

Sokka then thought of something. "What was it that Aang said?" he asked himself. "Yee-ha? Hup hup? Wahoo?" he tried. "Yip yip?" Suddenly, Appa groaned and flapped his tail, climbing into the sky.

"You did it Sokka!" Katara cheered happily. Sokka was even more excited. "He's flying! He's flying! Katara he's-" he noticed Kataras smug look and calmed down. "I mean, big deal, he's flying." He couldn't help but smile though.

_Back on the ship_

Aang and Naruto ran down another hallway, constantly looking behind them for pursuers. "_Come on staff where, are you?_" Aang thought.

Naruto looked down the hallway. "_We have to get down the ship fast,_" Naruto thought seriously _(adjektiv)_. They turned the corner and ran into three guards.

Aang smiled weakly and said, "Have you seen my staff around?" They responded by pointing their spears at them. Aang ran past them, running along the walls and ceiling. "Thanks anyway," he called back.

They looked at the trail of dust he left behind before turning back to Naruto who had flaming hands. "Get out of my way and you´ll not get hurt," Naruto said seriously_ (adjektiv)._ The nervous soldier did exactly what he asked.

Aang jumped into another hallway, occupied by a fire bender soldier. The soldier sent a blast of fire at him. In one swift move Aang jumped over the fire stream and the soldier.

When he landed he sent an air blast at the soldier that sent _(ikke hoppe i tid)_ him to ground, unconscious.

Aang looked in several rooms in search of his staff. He opened the door to another room and cringed when he saw it was occupied. He relaxed slightly when he realized the old man was asleep.

He gently shut the door while quietly apologizing to the sleeping man. Checking a few more rooms in a hurry to get out, he almost passed an open room that held what he was looking for.

He headed towards the staff, but stopped when the door shut. He turned around and saw Zuko glaring at him.

_With Naruto_

Naruto jumped into the hallway Aang just was in and looked at the unconscious soldier with a smile. He continued down the hallway, checking each room and loudly calling for Aang.

"Aang!" he yelled into another room. Iroh shot up eyes wide then tiredly looked at Naruto. Naruto was fast and went down in a fire bending stance ready for combat.

Iroh stared at Naruto, studying him from head to toe. After about a minute of silence Iroh finally spoke. "Did you come for your little friend, guardian?" He filled tea in a tea cup. "Do you want some jasmine tea?" He asked again.

Naruto blinked. This guy, his enemy, was smiling and was offering him tea. Naruto shrugged. "Err, thanks." He took a sip from the cup. "That´s a good tea, but tell me, how did you know?" Naruto asked, referring to him being a guardian.

Iroh smiled and took a sip from his own tea. "I knew your mother, Kushina. A great woman, but that's a story for another day. The Avatar is in the last room of the hall," Iroh said and looked at Naruto who ran out of the room.

_In Zukos room_

After almost three years of searching, he finally finds and captures the Avatar and not even five minutes later he escapes. "_Of course_" Zuko thinks to himself. Nothing has ever been easy for him. Why would this be any different?

When the Avatar went for the staff, which he left out in the open on purpose, Zuko smirked. He shut the door he was hiding behind, trapping the Avatar in the room. "Looks like I underestimated you," were all Zuko said before letting loose several blasts of fire. Aang dodged.

Rolling into a corner, Aang tried to catch his breath but was forced to dodge more fireballs. He rolled under Zuko and used circle-walking to stay behind Zuko. Zuko growled as he was unable to hit and jumped away to get some distance and thought "_Close combat isn't going to work._"

He fired more blasts but Aang bent the air away from the fire, making the flames die. Aang then jumped into the air and formed an air scooter, riding all around the room dodging every blast.

The door flung open and Naruto kicked Zuko in the back. Zuko flew back into his mattress while Naruto flipped back next to Aang, who recovered his staff.

With air bending, Aang slammed the mattress, and Zuko, into the wall then into the ceiling. Zuko looked up to find both boys gone.

Opening the hatch to the bridge Aang and Naruto poked their heads out to see if the coast was clear. There was the helmsman, but beyond him was their way out.

They rushed out on the observation deck and Aang opened his glider and jumped off. "Hop on." he called. Naruto jumped on the back of Aangs glider. "_We're out of here._" Aang thought.

Unfortunately Zuko wasn't done with them. He had jumped off the observation deck and grabbed Aangs foot. Aang couldn't support the weight of both himself, Naruto, and Zuko and they crashed onto the deck.

All three got up and squared off again. Zuko and Naruto was standing in a fire bending stance while Aang was standing in an air bending stance. They were all ready to fight.

A growl took their attention away from each other and looked up. "What _is_ that?" Zuko asked out loud.

"Appa!" Aang exclaimed happy. "Wow," Naruto said, amazed. As Appa got closer they were able to make out Katara and Sokka in his saddle.

While distracted by Appa, Aang almost got roasted by Zuko. He narrowly blocked the blast by twirling his staff. He jumped back to avoid another blast and almost fell overboard.

Naruto was fast and fired a couple of fireballs at Zuko, but he avoided them all. Zuko made a sweep kick that sent a fire blade at Naruto. It was fast, too fast making him unable to avoid it and was hit. The attack sent him hard against the ships rail.

With Naruto out of the way, Zuko turned his attention back to the bald monk, firing several blasts of fire at him, the last one knocking Aangs staff away.

Aang jumped out the way of another blast of fire and landed on the rail. Zuko kicked one more ball of fire and this time Aang couldn't dodge it. He fell unconscious and over the side of the ship into the water.

"Aang! Noo!" Katara cried. Aang was the Avatar. He was supposed to bring peace to the world. He wasn't supposed to die. Not like this. "Aang!" she cried again.

Beside her, Sokka looked equally shocked. He may have not liked the kid, but he didn't deserve that. 'He saved our village and he lost his life doing it. "_No one should have to die that young,_" he thought sadly.

He looked at Naruto and gasped. "Naruto, look out!"

Zukos eyes widened when the boy fell overboard. That wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to capture the Avatar, not kill him.

Even if he told his father that he killed the Avatar, he doubted his father would let him come back home. Zuko trembled, in rage. He glared at the yellow haired boy who freed the Avatar. With a loud war cry, he sent a massive fireball at the blond.

"Aang!" Naruto watched on with shock as Aang fell overboard. He was his guardian! He should have protected him, but had failed in doing so! Faintly, he heard Katara call for Aang.

He barely heard Zukos war cry. He didn't hear Sokkas warning call at all. He heard nothing. He was by himself again. Naruto felt hollow, yet at the same filled with despair and rage. He gripped the rails harder.

_In the cold water_

Aang could feel he was in water but couldn't do anything about it. He felt tired and numb.

"Aang!" he heard Naruto yell.

"_Naruto? He's still up there with that fire bender_" he thought while he continued sinking.

"Aang! Noo!" he heard Katara yell

"Aang!" he heard her yell again, panic rose in Aang his friends were in trouble.

Aangs eyes and tattoos glowed white.

_Back on the ship _

Narutos eyes and whisker marks glowed red.

He turned to the fireball and effortlessly dissipated it by backhanding it. Zuko stepped back in fear at Narutos glowing stare.

With a punch Naruto sent forth his own mighty blast of fire. Zuko blocked the flame but was thrown back from the force of the blast.

Several soldiers came out and surrounded Naruto. Naruto slammed his hands in the ground that made the metal plates rise and knocked the soldiers back. Zuko and the water siblings watched in shock.

"_He bent fire and metal?_" they all thought.

Zuko got up and looked at Naruto in awe and confusion. "_But I thought-_"before he could finish the thought he heard a splash that caught everyone's attention.

A cyclone of water shot out of the sea. At the top was Aang with his eyes and tattoos glowing. Zuko looked at Aang in fear as he towered over the ship.

He landed on the deck and bended the water around him then unleashed it, knocking the soldiers back and Zuko over the side of the ship.

Sokka and Katara looked on in shock. "Did you see what they just did?!" Katara squeaked.

"Now that was some water bending…and fire bending and…and what the hell just happened?!" Sokka exclaimed.

Naruto and Aang collapsed, exhausted from using the Avatar State and Guardian state. Once Appa landed Katara rushed over to Aang. Naruto was already getting up and with the help of Sokka, he was able to walk over to them.

Katara shook Aang "Aang. Are you alright?" Aang groaned and looked at the gathered people.

"Hey Katara, hey Sokka. Thanks for coming," he said and smiled tiredly. Sokka smirked. "Well I couldn't let you guys get all the glory."

"But _we_ won the fight," Naruto stated with a smile. "We still came!" Sokka added.

Aang looked towards his right. "I dropped my staff."

"I'll get it," Sokka volunteered and ran off causing Naruto to fall on his face. As Sokka picked it up another hand grabbed it, freaking him out.

When he realized that the hand belonged to Zuko, Sokka tried to pull it away, but the Prince wouldn't let go. After a short tug-o-war battle, Sokka decided to get payback and poked Zuko in the head the same way Zuko had done to him earlier.

Zuko lost his grip and almost fell into the water, but managed to grab on to the anchor chain. "That's from the Water Tribe!" Sokka yelled triumphantly.

Katara just finished helping the boys onto Appa when she saw the guards advance towards them. She pulled a stream of water from the puddles on the deck, scaring the guards a bit.

Trying to do what Aang just did, she flung her arms forward. But the water flew backwards and the water behind her froze.

"Katara!" she heard Sokka yell. Katara looked behind her and saw that she froze her brother's feet to the ship. The soldiers continued forward, thinking she was no threat.

Katara turned around and repeated what she just did, hoping for the same results. She turned around and gave a mental cheer. The soldiers were frozen in place.

Katara climbed on Appa and shouted at her brother, "Hurry up Sokka!"

Sokka was chipping away the ice around his feet with his boomerang. "It your fault that I'm stuck! I didn't ask for all this flying and magic; I'm just a guy with a boomerang!" He muttered to himself.

He got himself free and ran up Appas tail. "Yip yip! Yip yip!" Sokka cried.

Iroh had to rub his eyes when he saw the giant mammal fly into the air. "Huh?" He surveyed the chaos on the deck; the unconscious fire benders, the frozen guards, and his nephew struggling to get back onboard.

He quickly helped Zuko back on deck, who ordered to shoot them down. But with everyone incapacitated, it was up to Iroh and Zuko. Together they launched a large ball of fire at Appa.

Aang jumped to the back of the saddle and with a swing of his staff he released an arc of wind that deflected the fireball into an ice cliff. A large amount of ice fell on the ship and prevented it from going any further. The kids laugh in success as they get away.

Zuko glared at them, then at the snow. "Good news for the Fire Lord. The nation's greatest threat is just a little kid." Iroh commented.

"You're wrong, uncle. It's not just the Avatar... The Guardian has also shown himself." Iroh looked shocked at Zukos statement. "_How did he know that_" Iroh thought when he heard what Zuko told him.

"And they just did this..." Zuko stared as they flew off. "I don't know how that's possible and I don't know if that makes my task easier or harder, but I know I won't underestimate either of them again. Dig this ship out and follow them." He turned to his crew. Half were frozen while the other half was thawing them out with small flames. "…as soon as you're finished with _that_…" he finished lamely.

The sun was setting and they were still flying on Appa. Katara decided now was the time to ask questions. "How did you do that?" she asked Aang. "With the water. It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen."Aang looked sideways at her. "I don't know. I just sort of…did it."

Katara looked down. That wasn't the answer she was expecting. She looked at Naruto and asked, "I don't suppose you have an answer?"

"When I was little, mom told me about a Guardian state. It´s not like Aangs Avatar state, where he builds a connection with the past Avatar, which is the reason why Aang could water bend. My Guardian state makes my power grow and improved my bending abilities," Naruto told.

Katara looked over at Aang again. "Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" she asked and saw that he looked away. "Because…I never wanted to be," he answered a little sad.

"Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return. And now we've have a chance to stop the war!" Naruto said to Aang who now looked at him.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" he asked

"Well, according to legend, you first need to master water, then earth, then fire, right?" Katara added looking at Aang. "Well, that's what the monks told me, " Aang said.

"Well if you go to the North Pole, you can master water bending," Katara said with a smile.

"We can learn it together," Aang added with a smile

Katara looked at Sokka. "There'll be plenty of fire bender heads to knock on the way," she said in a sing song voice.

Sokka smiled a bit and said, "I'd like that. I'd really like that." "Then we're in this together," Katara declared.

"All right, but before I learn water bending, we have some serious business to attend to," Aang said with a smile and pulled out and opened a map. "Here, here, and here." he pointed to several places.

"What's special there?" Katara asked.

"Here we'll ride the hopping llamas. Then waaay over here we'll surf on the backs of giant koi fish," Aang smiled brightly at them.

They looked at each other, then back at the map, then at Aang, and then back at each other.

"It seems we have a plan," Naruto said with smile.


	6. The Southern Air Temple

**The Southern Air Temple**

The sun rose in the horizon, the new day was beginning. Naruto, Aang and Katara were getting ready to leave but Sokka was still sleeping tightly in his sleeping pack.

Naruto was refilling their water supply, Katara was packing the sleeping packs behind Appas saddle while Aang was putting the bridle on Aangs horns.

"Wait to you see it Katara. The Air temple is one of most beautiful places in the world!" Aang told whit a big smile and looked over at Katara. "Aang I know you're excited but it´s been a hundred years since you´ve been home" Katara responded.

"I know that´s why I´m so excited" Aang said to Katara whit a smile. "Aang many things can change in a hundred years" Naruto told while he looked up to Aang. "Yeah I know but I have to see for myself" Aang said and used air bending to levitate down to the earth.

"Come on Sokka the Air temple is waiting for us" Aang said to Sokka who groaned "sleep now, temple later" Sokka remarked sleepy. Aang picked up a stick and used it on Sokka believing it was a snake. "Ahh get it off. Get it off" Sokka panicked while he jumped in his sleeping pack but he fell.

"Great your awake lets go" Aang said whit a smile while Naruto and Katara were laughing.

_By an Fire Nation Port_

Zuko and his uncle had sailed their ship to the harbour for repairing. "Uncle I want the repairs done as fast as possibly I don't want to risk losing his tail" Zuko ordered while he went down the bowsprit together whit his uncle.

"You mean the Avatar" Iroh said but stopped walking when Zuko turned around "don't mention his name on this dock when word comes out his alive and the guardian is whit him everyone will be hunting them and I don't want anyone getting in the way" Zuko told his uncle in the face "getting in the way of what Prince Zuko?" they heard someone ask.

When they turned around to face the man they saw a middle age man in official fire nation cloth. "Captain Zhao" Zuko began "it´s commander now and general Iroh great hero of our nation. The fire lord's son and brother is welcome guest here. What can I do for you?" Zhao asked.

"We´re here to get our ship repaired" Zuko told and pointed at the ship. "That's quite a bit of damage what happened?" Zhao asked looking at Zuko and Iroh.

"You wouldn't believe it… Uncle explain to him what happened" Zuko told his uncle "uh yes I'll do that. It was incredible…did we crash or something?" Iroh asked and looked over to Zuko who tried to come up whit a lie.

"Yes right in to an earth kingdom ship" Zuko lied hopping that Zhao would believe him. "Really" Zhao began he didn´t sound like he believed Zuko "you have to tell me everything so why don't you join me for a drink" Zhao said and looked at Zuko right in the face.

"Sorry but we don't have time for this" Zuko said and turned around so he missed Zhao's smug smile.

Before he could walk away he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard what Iroh said "wait Prince Zuko show your respect to commander Zhao. We would be honored to be your guests" Iroh told Zhao.

"Do you have some Jing sei tea? It´s my favorite" Iroh asked before he walked away followed by commander Zhao. Zuko was angry before he walked away he let a little fire out off his fingers.

_With the Avatar gang_

Aang, Katara, Sokka and Naruto were riding Appa on their way to the Southern Air Temple. Sokka didn´t believe that they were actually heading into and through the clouds.

Naruto was sitting beside Aang, Sokka and Katara was sitting in Appas saddle. "Aang before we get to the temple I want to tell you something about the air benders" Naruto said to Aang who was still smiling.

"What about them?" Aang asked looking forward to see where they were flying "nothing I only want you to be prepared for what you're going to see… the fire nation is ruthless they have killed in many lands and they could have done the same thing to the air benders" Naruto told Aang and saw that he looked a little sad.

"Just because no one has seen an air bender in a long time doesn't the fire nation killed them all. Someone could have escaped" Aang said smiling once more "the only way to get to an Air temple is on a flying bison and I doubt the fire Nation have any flying bison" Aang told Naruto while Appa was going higher.

They flew up a thousand foot sheer cliff. Before them they could see the Southern air temple. "There it is guys the southern air temple" Aang introduced while he smiled "wow Aang it´s amazing" Katara said amazed.

Appa made a soft landing and they then got off of him. "We´re home my friend. We´re finally home" Aang whispered to Appa.

_Fire Nation Port in Zhao's Tent_

Zhao was talking about the war and of the Fire Nation's progress against the Earth Kingdom capitol: Ba Sing Se.

It was a large city surrounded by a huge outer wall; the city was then surrounded by another wall. Zhao were standing before a detailed map of the world, it was hanging on the tent's back wall.

The tent's left wall was covered in antique spears in a wooden rack, which Iroh was admiring. An orange red decorated pot sat in the right corner. A black and red ornamental rug covered the middle of the carpeted floor, the symbol of the Fire Nation in the middle.

With two ornate chairs, one of which Zuko was begrudgingly sitting in one. A low table before him with a fancy tea set. A single wooden beam was in the tent, used to keep the rich red cloth up.

"And by year's end", Zhao turned around to face Zuko´s back and continued his story "Ba Sing Se will be under Fire Nation control and the Fire Lord will finally claim victory in this war."

"If he thinks the entire world will follow him willingly then his are fool" Zuko said, truthfully and bitterly. Zhao smirked and sat down beside Zuko.

"I see that two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue", Zhao sneered, heavily hinting his meaning. Zuko clutched at the chair's armrest. "So" Zhao began and leaned over the chairs back towards Zuko "how is your search for the Avatar going?" he finally asked.

Zhao and Zuko were interrupted by a clattering of metal, caused by Iroh accidentally knocking over the spears.

"My fault, entirely" Iroh apologized, hands in sleeves, backing away from the fallen spears.

Zhao's curiosity was picked at this. How convenient for him to be interrupted at the moment he asked about the Avatar.

Zuko continued, despite his uncle's accidental or purposeful distraction "we haven't found him yet" Zuko answered whit a lie "did you _really_ expect too? The Avatar died 100 years ago when Sozin attacked the Air nomads" Zhao asked, straightening his back.

But he wouldn't stop to intimidate Zuko into revealing something. Just like in an interrogation. "The entire Fire Nation and _world_ haven't found him. What makes you think you will?" Zhao asked, sneering.

Zuko´s fists clenched the armrest more tightly, trying to resist the urge to lash out and Zhao saw this. He may have trying to resist saying something important or trying to resist yelling at him. Either way, Zhao would continue to provoke him.

"Unless" he smiled evilly and spoke "you have found evidence that the Avatar's alive?."

Zuko tried to remain calm and formulate a response. "…No" Zuko responded and turned his head away from Zhao's face.

"Prince Zuko" Zhao began while he stood up again "the Avatar is the only one who could stop the Fire Nation winning this war. If you have some sort of loyalty left you will tell me what you have found" Zhao told and looked Zuko straight in the face.

"We didn't find a thing" Zuko and looked Zhao in the eyes "it´s like you said the Avatar died a long time ago" Zuko said and rose from his seat. "…Come on uncle, we're leaving", he snapped.

But before he and Iroh could go the soldiers by the entrance crossed their spears so they couldn´t get out. Another soldier entered, approached Zhao, his eyes obviously focusing on the commander, trying not to look at Zuko, or his scar.

"Sir", the soldier bowed before continuing, "We interrogated the prince's crew like you commanded. They confirmed that Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody but allowed him to escape", the soldier informed Zhao.

Zuko´s stomach felt like it deflated. How could his crew betray him like that? Well: they thought of him as low as a snail, he was a teenager that bossed them around, and treated them with no respect. Of course they would confess to the sadistic Commander Zhao.

Zuko stood perfectly still, not moving as Zhao's gaze turned to him.

"So, Prince Zuko remind me" Zhao began and walked behind Zuko again he spoke into his deformed ear, "how _did_ you ship get damaged?"

Zuko shut his eyes, tight. With no allies or friends none other than his uncle.

_By the Air temple_

The Avatar team were walking on a road up to the air temple Naruto and Sokka was walking behind Katara and Aang. "So when do I get something to eat" Sokka groaned while he was holding his stomach "show some respect Sokka we are the first outsiders to ever visit a air temple" Naruto told Sokka in a stern voice.

"Hey I´m just a simple man whit simple needs" Sokka explained and looked over to Aang and Katara.

Naruto started to look around "So this is an air temple. How was it like to live here?" he asked and looked over Aang.

"It was great to live here Naruto, we had much fun here too" Aang answered and pointed to an area that had lot of posts sticking out of the ground and two large boards at either end, "that was where my friends and I used to play air ball" he told.

He pointed to a structure that appeared to be a hill with a lot of holes in it and said "that was the place where the air bison would sleep and." Aang sighed.

"What's wrong?" Katara asked and looked over at Aang.

"This place used to be full of monk, lemur and bison. Now there is just a bunch of weeds." Aang looked down in sorrow, "I can't believe how much things have changed" he told sad.

Sokka looked at his new friend wanting to help. "So this air ball game. How do you play it?" he asked

Sokka was standing on one of the post while Aang was spinning a ball in his hands using air bending. Aang tossed the ball into the air then shrugged as Sokka looked at him funny. Aang then spins and sends the ball flying down the field off the posts. Finally hitting Sokka and sending him through the goal.

He lands in a heap on the ground. "Why does keeping Aang happy have to hurt so much?" Sokka asked no one. He saw something on the ground and looked closer at it was a Fire Nation soldier helmet. He crawls over to it and then looked at his sister. "Katara look at this" he whispered so Aang couldn´t hear him.

Katara looking down seeing the helmet said quietly, "Fire Nation." "We have to tell him this" Naruto responds after he saw what they were talking about.

Katara turned around and yelled, "Aang there is something you need to see!"

Aang ran towards Katara and Sokka. Using air bending to throw the ball into the air and catching it again "Okay!" he yelled back and ran over to them

Katara looked at Aang sadly, then back to the helmet. She made a decision. She used her water bending to pull the snow off the bank onto the helmet and Sokka. Aang excitedly asked "What is it?"

"Ah, just a new water bending move I learned." Katara said smiling.

"Nice one, but enough practicing we have a whole temple to see." Aang replied as he walked towards the temple.

"You can't protect him forever. He needs to know." Sokka said sadly as he brushed the snow off himself. As they approach the entrance Naruto, Sokka and Katara were speaking while Aang was looking around.

"Katara fire benders were here you can´t pretend they weren´t" Naruto told Katara while they were walking "I can for Aangs shake if he finds out that the fire nation invaded his home he would be defecated" Katara said to Naruto

When they arrived to the entrance they saw that Aang was looking at a statue of a man sitting in a lotus position. "Hey guys, I want you to meet someone." Aang said to his friend's whit out looking back. "Who is that?" Sokka questioned looking at the statue Aang was looking at.

"This is Monk Giatzo, the greatest air bender ever. He taught me everything I know." Aang said as his mind wanders to the past. A fun event with Giatzo came to mind, where they sent cakes flying and hitting the elders on the heads.

Katara put a hand on Aang, "I'm sure you miss him." Katara said in a comforting voice. "Yeah" Aang simply said and walked up the stairs "where are you going?" Naruto asked and looked up to Aang.

Aang looked back and answered "to the air temple sanctuary there is someone I´m ready to meet." He turned around and went in the temple.

Katara, Naruto and Sokka followed Aang to a door with unusual tubes on it. "But Aang no one could have survived in there for a hundred years" Katara told Aang "it´s not impossible Aang survived in the iceberg for a hundred" Naruto added while he looked at the door "good point" Katara responded.

"Katara in there could be someone who would help me whit this Avatar thing" Aang told while he looked at Katara. "And whoever is in there could have a delicious meal ready" Sokka and went over to the door.

He tried to open the door but it didn´t budge. "I don't suppose you have any keys?" Sokka asked. "The key Sokka is air bending." Aang replies whit a smile as he opened the door using air bending.

_Fire Nation Port: Zhao´s Tent _

Zuko was sitting in the chair again, behind him stood two soldiers. Iroh was sitting in same chair Zhao sat in. Zhao was standing in front of Zuko, listening as he confessed everything. The bright light, seeing the Avatar on the ship, attacking the village, fighting the Avatar, and finally, his escape.

Zhao was smirking the entire time. This was incredibly entertaining watching Zuko spill his guts about the Avatar and having so quickly lost his only way home. Zhao couldn't have been happier to hear about this.

"So", he began after Zuko had finished his tale "a 12 year old boy and his guardian defeated you and your fire benders?" Zhao told trying to contain a laugh.

"You're more pathetic then I thought" Zhao said to Zuko whit out looking at him. "I underestimated him once, it will not happen again" Zuko said as calmly as he could, but his temper was getting the best of him.

"Right, because you won't have a second chance" Zhao replied, his smug look vanishing, leaving a superior, up-turned nose one. Now serious.

"Commander Zhao I have been hunting the Avatar for two years now" Zuko began but was interrupted by Zhao who shot a little flame out of his hand to make his statement clear and nearly yelled "And failed."

"The task of capturing the Avatar is far too important to leave in a teenager's hands and now that the guardian has shown himself it´s more than important to catch them" he added with a sneer. Zuko wasn´t pleased to hear that he wanted to attack Zhao but was hold back by the soldiers.

"Keep them here" Zhao ordered and turned around to leave. When he left Zuko kicked the tea table away "more tea please" Iroh said happy.

_Inside the air temple sanctuary _

Inside the room were hundreds of statues circling the room up into the heights of the chamber hundreds of feet up. "What is this all?" Katara asked while she looked around "it´s the Avatar circle they are your past life Aang" Naruto answered and looked over to Aang who seemed to be fixated on the last in the line.

"Aang? Who is that?" Katara asked.

"Avatar Roku" Aang simply answered.

"How do you know that?" Katara asked. "There are no plaques or inscriptions."

"I don't know." Aang shrugged. "I just do" he said and continued looking at Roku. "You just couldn't get any weirder" Sokka groaned.

Suddenly they heard a sound behind. Sokka was fast and told the others to hide. A shadow appears in the hallway leading to the chamber.

"Fire benders… don't make a sound" Sokka whispered to everyone. The shadow appeared to be that of a fire nation helmet. The kids were getting nervous as the shadow kept getting larger.

Finally a winged lemur appeared in the doorway. "Lemur" Aang started. "Meat!" Sokka yelled and he ran towards the lemur. "No I want him to be my friend." Aang said and chased after the lemur and Sokka. Katara and Naruto stayed in the Avatar room. "They can´t be serious" Naruto sighed that made Katara chuckle "I´m afraid so."

They ran down a hallway until they came to a balcony. Aang jumped down the balcony and used air bending to land safely on the ground, the lemur just flied down. "Hey that´s not fair!" Sokka whined and looked down at Aang.

_Fire Nation Port: Zhao's Tent_

Zuko had been forced to impatiently wait in Zhao's tent, teeth seething in his mouth, hands clenching at the expensive wood of the armrest. This was the worst kind of torture, waiting.

Zhao returned, now more official and less smug.

"My search ship is ready once I´m out to sea my guards will escort you to your ship and you'll be free to go" Zhao said like was speaking to a rat, which in his eyes Zuko was.

"Why? Are you worried I'll try to stop you? " he asked angrily. Zhao began to laugh "you stop me that´s impossible" he answered whit a smug smile.

"Don't underestimate me Zhao I will catch Avatar before you" Zuko said and stood up so did Iroh "Prince Zuko that's enough" he told trying to calm down the prince.

"It doesn't matter you lost him and I have an entire war fleet under my command, each ship with better equipped men, more soldiers, and more competent men than yours. You're just a banished prince, no home, no allies. Your own father doesn't even want you", Zhao sneered whit a smile

Insulting his men didn't necessarily bother Zuko, but it brought up the subject that Zuko had been so poorly equipped to hunt the Avatar in comparison to one Fire Navy ship.

"Zuko", Iroh warned, knowing that this debate was becoming too heated to be just angry bantering. "You're wrong, if my father didn't want me back, he wouldn't have given me a chance to return home and once I deliver the Avatar he will welcome me home whit honor and respect" Zuko told in his head, he knew how pitiful this sounded.

Zhao laughed at this defense.

"Do you hear yourself? If Fire Lord Ozai wanted you back, he would have let you return by now Avatar or not" Zhao proceeded, his voice now more quiet and poisonous, "in his eyes your nothing, then a failure and a disgrace to the fire nation" his voice now a whisper.

"That is not true", Zuko hissed, his eyes focused on Zhao. "You have the scar to prove it" Zhao said still looking at Zuko. But Zuko had enough of the insult. "If you think my scar is so amusing, I'll give you one to match", Zuko snarled.

"Is that a challenge?" Zhao asked in a sickeningly calm voice. "Agni Kai at sunset!" Zuko added.

Zhao smirked, paused for a moment, then spoke, "Your second time to lose an Agni Kai. How embarrassing", he turned to leave but paused, "It is a shame your father won't be here to witness your second defeat", his eyes moved to Iroh, "I suppose your uncle will do". Zhao turned and left.

Seconds passed by, till Iroh spoke up. "Prince Zuko… Have you forgotten the last time you fought a master?" Iroh demanded.

"…I'll never forget", Zuko muttered, his scar cast into the shadows.

_Back in the Air temple_

The chase had finally ended in a tarp covered one story building. "Come on out lemur that hungry guy won't bother you" Aang said as went in the building and continued to another room but what he saw shocked him, several dead fire nation soldiers.

"Fire nation? When did they get here?" Aang asked himself as he looked around the room. His eyes fixated on a skeleton on the far wall. "No…" The skeleton was wearing a monk's robe and the medallion that Giatzo wore when Aang knew him.

"Hey Aang did you find my dinner?" Sokka asked as he went in the room Aang was in. "Oh no…come on Aang lets get back to Katara and Naruto" Sokka sadly said as he found out that Aang had discovered Giatzo. But suddenly Aangs tattoos and eyes glowed white.

The statue's eyes light up in a progression from Roku back through the other avatars. "Aang… Katara we have to hurry come on!" Naruto told Katara as he ran out of the room. All over the world in the temples dedicated to the Avatar ceremonial altars light up and the keepers knew that the Avatar had returned.

In the fire temple there was a slightly different reaction. "Notify the Fire Lord and tell him, the Avatar is back" the head keeper ordered.

_Back in the building_

Aang was surrounded by a swirling ball of air, his eyes and tattoos glowed even brighter. "Come on Aang snap out of it" Sokka tried to calm Aang but he failed and was slung back because of the strong wind.

"What happened?" Katara questioned Sokka who was now hiding behind a broken wall as she and Naruto fought against the winds that were whipping the area.

"He found out that fire benders killed monk Giatzo" Sokka yelling his reply. "He went in to Avatar state, if he continues this he will blow us off the mountain, we have to calm him down" Naruto yelled to the others "I´ll do it" Katara yelled and tried to get over to Aang.

_Fire Nation Port the Agni Kai Arena_

An Agni Kai is a _fire meeting_ where two Fire benders fight in a duel.

Zuko was kneeling away from Zhao on one end of the arena, his uncle standing over him, hands in his sleeves. The arena was rectangular, made of iron; the floor was covered in light brown dirt. A small rectangular balcony at Zhao's end held the gong and a man in red robes with the mallet to hit it with.

The sky was a blazing red and orange, the sun beginning to set over the horizon. A gentle breeze was blowing. Zuko was dressed in black pants that came to his knees and tightened at his legs there, with a red sash as a belt. He was shirtless and shoeless.

Revealing that he was in a very good shape. A black cloth with red on the edges hung on his shoulders. Zuko was kneeling on a knee, the other propped up at a 90 degree angle. One hand in a fist against the ground, the other resting on his bent leg.

His head leaning forward, eyes on the ground; only able to see his Uncle's shoes and the dirt floor of the arena. "Remember your fire bending basics, don't underestimate Zhao" Iroh said lending last minute advice to his nephew, "I refuse to let him win" Zuko told as he stood up.

"Never do something so rash again", Iroh said, a bit angry at Zukos rushed decisions. Now there was no turning back he had to fight Zhao. "Yes uncle", Zuko muttered. "…Good luck", Iroh added, his tone softer.

"This will be over soon", Zhao said as he stood up and turned around. He went down in a fire bending stance ready to fight he saw that Zuko was doing the same thing.

They glared at one another, years of hatred boiling in them. Zuko´s hands slightly lowered, his curled hands forming flames. He drew his arms in, and fired. The blast surged towards Zhao, who knocked it aside with a flick of his arm. Zuko fired again, it was way off, shooting past Zhao´s right. His smirk widened. Zuko was no match for him.

Zuko was losing patience and control over his breathing; he began to move forward, shooting some fire at Zhao every now and again. Zhao knocked each blast aside, with a little more effort than before. With a turning kick, Zuko sent another blast of fire at Zhao, that he knocked aside.

"Basics Zuko! Break his root!" Iroh shouted an advice to Zuko.

"_Right, but I can't break through his root with basics when he knows advanced_ _moves_", Zuko thought angrily. This was why he needed to know advanced moves he couldn't keep up with Zhao.

Zuko kicked at Zhao that sent a fire blade at him. He used fire bending to make his hands glow, he crouched down, and nullified Zuko´s attack. With an upward motion he sent a streaking blast of fire at Zuko he blocked it, but was sent back a little.

Zhao began a barrage of fire, sending Zuko back more and more with each attack. He was trapped on the offensive. Zhao, arms against each other, palms upward, and fingers curled, sent a powerful shot at Zuko, knocking him off his feet and onto his back.

Zuko looked up and saw Zhao leaning forward on a leg, smirking, his fist alight aiming at Zukos face. Zukos eyes widened.

Before Zhao could attack him Zukos foot shot out and twisted under Zhao's foot, it made Zhao lose his balance but it didn´t knock him down. "_Now I know what uncle meant whit breaking his roots_" Zuko thought whit a smile.

Zuko did it again one last time, knocking Zhao down onto his back. Zuko smiled at this his fist pointing at Zhao's face. Zuko paused, not moving.

"Do it!" Zhao shouted. With a yell, Zuko punched at Zhao and then stood straight. Zuko hadn't hit Zhao he punched at the side of Zhao's head, leaving a scorch mark against the ground.

"That's it…your father raised a coward" Zhao snapped, not able to believe that even Zuko hadn't struck him down. "Next time you get in my way, I won't hold back", Zuko said, voice even and calm.

Zuko turned around and began to walk away, feeling oddly satisfied that he had decided not to attack Zhao. He thought he would be happy for a chance to hurt Zhao as he had been hurt, make him go through what he had and understand the pain he had gone through when he had been burned.

But now, Zuko thought he would feel angrier than ever if he had attacked Zhao. He felt strangely calm that he had left their conflict there.

There was a sound of fire crackling and burning behind him. Before Zuko´s brain could fully analyze what was going on, the burning sound stopped and he was aware that his uncle was standing behind him his hand had caught Zhao's outstretched foot.

Zhao had tried to attack Zuko, even though the Agni Kai was over. Iroh pushed Zhao back by his foot, sending Zhao onto his butt. He angrily sat up, glaring at the two.

Zuko tried to attack Zhao, angry at this dishonorable act. Iroh caught Zuko by his shoulders, holding him back.

"No Zuko! Do not taint your victory!" He said sternly. Iroh turned to Zhao, "So this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat...Disgraceful... Even in exile, my nephew is more honorable than you." Iroh told in a stern voice. "Thanks again for the tea, it was delicious" Iroh said, now friendlier.

He turned around and began to walk away followed by Zuko, they left through the gateway. Zhao sat up, a knee propped up, arm resting against it, and watched his two least favorite people leave.

"Uncle?" Zuko asked his voice quiet, "is what you said true?" Zuko asked again while he walked away whit his uncle.

"Of course", Iroh said kindly, "I told you that Jing sei tea was my favorite" he simply answered but a sly smile appeared on his face. Zuko smiled too after he heard what Iroh said.

_Back in the Air temple_

"Aang! I know you're hurt, and you think that you have lost everything. But you still have a family. Yes the monks maybe gone. But you still have Sokka, Naruto and me. We are your family now." Katara yelled trying to comfort Aang and it worked.

The wind began to slow down. The vortex of wind calmed down along. The sphere around Aang became less and less visible and he began to slowly descend to the ground.

After Aang landed on the ground Katara, Sokka and Naruto went over to him. His eyes continued glowing "we won't let anything happen to you" Sokka said while he looked at Aang. Katara took Aangs hand and saw that he stopped glowing.

Aang lost his balance but Katara caught him. "Sorry" Aang said weakly "it´s okay Aang it wasn't your fault" Naruto responded whit a smile while he looked down at Aang

"If the fire benders found this temple, then it means they found the other ones to. I´m really the last Air bender I miss them, and it hurts so much. You won't leave will you?' Aang asked as Katara cradled Aangs head. "No Aang. Not as long as we can help it" Katara answered and hugged Aang.

"Hey buddy, we won't abandon you. We are just getting to know you." Sokka said whit a smile as laid his hand on Aangs shoulder "we won't leave you Aang we are your family now" Naruto added whit a smile.

A couple of minutes later Aang and Katara were standing in the Avatar room in front of Avatar Roku. "Everything's pact we´re ready to go" Sokka told while he and Naruto went over to Aang and Katara.

"I buried Giatzo and the other monks I found" Naruto said while he now looked at Roku. "How is he going to help me? If I can´t speak to him" Aang asked while he continued looking at Roku. "I don´t know Aang but what I do know is that you will find a way" Naruto answered and laid his hand on Aang shoulder.

When they turned around to leave they saw that the lemur Sokka and Aang tried to catch was standing in the entrance. In his arms he had some fruits he laid before Sokka who happily began to eat.

"It´s seems you found a new friend Sokka" Katara said whit a smile while she saw Sokka eat "can´t speak must eat" Sokka responded while he had food in his mouth. The lemur went over to Aang and sat on his head "hey little guy" Aang said whit a smile.

_Outside the Air temple_

Aang and his teammates stood by monk Giatzos grave to show him the last respect. "Come on Aang lets go" Naruto said to Aang and laid his hand on Aangs shoulder "just give me a second" Aang saw that Naruto nodded and walked over to Sokka and Katara.

When Naruto was gone Aang kneeled down and laid Giatzos necklace on his grave. "I thank you for everything you ever did for me you were like a father for me" Aang told and thought back to the time he was together whit Giatzo in the air temple.

_Flash back_

Aang was sitting on the yellow colored rail of the kitchen area, a knee brought to his chest and his chin on the knee. The other leg fell over the railing. He looked bored and sad as he barely paid attention to the old man behind her.

Monk Giatzo was an old man with a long white mustache to his chin. He had arrow tattoos visible on the back of his hands and head, the arrow tattoo on his bald head, visibly extending past the nape of his neck. The tattoos were a symbol of the air nomads.

He had wide gray eyes and lines to the sides of his mouth. He was wearing a wooden bead necklace with red tassels near the bottom and a circular wooden pendant with the Air bending symbol on it.

He was using a long wooden spatula instrument to remove one of the fruit pies from the oven. "But", Monk Giatzo explained, his voice calm and fatherly "the true secret" he removed the fruit pie from the oven, "lies in the gooey center" he explained whit a smile.

The fruit pies were in the shape of layered cakes with only one layer, a golden brown, the top covered in a different swirling whip. He laid the pies on the railing near Aang.

"But the famous fruit pies secret isn´t the only thing on your mind is it?" Monk Giatzo asked, seeing his empty, vacant, expression.

"Huh, no not at all" Aang lied turning to him. Monk Giatzo raised an eyebrow, smiling. "Okay yes" he admitted, he swung his legs over the railing and stood in front of Monk Giatzo.

"It's just that" he began, unsure of where to start, "me, being the Avatar…maybe the monks made a mistake. There's nothing special about me" he said exasperated, arms spread out, eyes on the ground.

"No Aang. There are plenty of things special about you. The only mistake I and the other Monk Elders made was telling you about being the Avatar before you turned 16" Monk Giatzo told his tone and face suddenly solemn and wary.

"But Giatzo how will I know if I´m ready for this" Aang asked while looked at the garden "your questions will all be answered when you're old enough to enter the air temple sanctuary. Inside you´ll find somebody who will guide you on your joinery" Giatzo answered while he looked at some flying bison´s.

Aang sighed while he turned his head away and looked out over the gardens where flying bison's and lemurs flew. Some of them were eating the vegetation.

Giatzos face became cheerful again and asked "Now young Air bender, are you going to help me whit this cakes or not?." Aangs saddened face lit up at Giatzos words. He turned back to him, smiling softly.

Giatzo and Aang stood at the ready, far before the railing, hands and legs clasped together, facing to the side of the railing, but heads turned to the railing and pies. They both breathed in and sighed.

They turned their hands over the other repeatedly, air forming into a ball in their hands, taking steps in a curve. With an uppercut movement, they hit the pies on the sill with some air, sending them through the air.

In the garden were the four other Monk Elders, sitting cross legged on a yellow stone platform in between two bonsai trees. The pies flew over them, and then landed on their heads, coating them in yellow cake and fruit filling.

Flying lemurs swarmed, they began to pick off the food and eat, while the Monk Elders remained still. Giatzo and Aang were leaning over the railing laughing Giatzo more loudly and full of merriment than Aang.

The dread of being the Avatar, still weighed on Aangs mind, and Giatzo even as an old man, laughed very loudly.

"See, young one" Giatzo began while he turned to Aang "your aim have improved greatly. You don't have to be born the best, to become the best" he explained, smiling at Aang.

Aang smiled and bowed in respect to Monk Giatzo. "Thank you" Aang said while he still showed his respect. "You´re welcome my young pupil" he replied, whit smile and returned the bow.

_Flash back end_

Aang stood up again. "I will make you proud old man" he said and went over to the others who packing some food.

"Hey guys I want you to meet the newest member of the family" Aang said while he had the lemur on his arm. "What are you going to name it?" Katara asked while she looked at Aang. Naruto was about to eat an apple but the lemur was faster and took the apple from him.

"I´ll name him Momo" Aang answered whit a smile and began to laugh together whit Sokka and Katara when they saw Naruto´s face expression.

"We have a problem guys" Naruto started and saw that he had their attention "when Aang went in to Avatar state the eyes of the past Avatar began to glow and so did they in all other temples. That means the fire nation is hunting us now" Naruto told his friends who looked serious.

"You´re right Naruto we´ll have to be more careful now" Sokka added and so that they nodded in agreement.

The time came when they had to go Naruto took Aang´s place on Appa´s head and Aang was now sitting in Appa´s saddle together whit Katara and Sokka while he looked at his old home one last time before it was hidden by the skies.


	7. Kyoshi Island

**Kyoshi Island**

It was early in the morning, the horizon was a bright blue, the sun beyond the horizon, the clouds faded into the top of the sky, a deep navy blue.

Zuko´s ship had been reappeared and had left the Fire Nation base yesterday. They had also refilled their supplies. They didn´t know if they were catching up to the Avatar or going in the wrong direction.

Knowing that now the Fire Nation and the entire world knew about the Avatar and the Kitsune minimized his chances of ever capturing them and going home whit his honor.

Zuko was in his room and was sitting on a low bench before the meditation table, dressed in his formal robes, sitting on his knees. Breathing in through his nose made the flames of the candles shrink when he exhaled they grew.

The room was very dark, being so early in the morning, with nothing but the candles for light. He had turned the lamps off.

Meditation calmed him, his mind was blank and diverted so he didn't have to confront this new reality he was facing.

A quiet knock sounded on the door, the person entered. "The only reason you should be disrupting me is when you news on the Avatar and his friends" Zuko told in a calm voice.

"Well we have news concerning the Avatar and his friends but now try not to get angry", Iroh said waving his hands in front of him defensively, showing that he was holding a rolled up piece of paper in his hand.

"Uncle, you taught me that keeping a calm mind is the sign of a great leader. Now whatever you have to say, I'm sure I can handle it", Zuko said in a calm tone.

Iroh doubted what he heard, but continued anyway. "Well… we haven't been able to find the Avatar."

"WHAT!" Zuko yelled the small candle flames flaring up to the ceiling. He stood up, trying to calm down his temper.

Iroh removed the orange fan from his sleeves waving the smoke forming at the ceiling away from his face. "You should open the vents Zuko, smoke smells bad" Iroh stated but Zuko ignored him and took the map from him.

"There have been multiple sightings of the Avatar and his friends. But it´s impossible to track them down" Iroh began while he waved the fan and looked at his nephew. "How, am I going to find them? Uncle the Avatar is clearly a master of advancing maneuvering" Zuko asked while he looked at map.

_Over the ocean _

Aang and his friends were flying on Appa. Katara was sewing Sokka´s trousers, Naruto was polishing his dual knifes. "You have no idea where you're going, do you?" Sokka asked Aang while he looked at the map "I now it´s near water" Aang answered whit a smile while he looked at Sokka "I guess were getting close that" Sokka sighed.

Naruto had just finished polishing his knifes when he went over to Aang. "Hey Aang isn't Kyoshi island nearby? I always wanted to go there" Naruto asked while he looked at Aang "yeah you´re right Naruto then I could ride on a koi fish" Aang answered whit a huge smile and maneuvered Appa to a nearby island.

_Kyoshi Island_

Appa was now standing on the beach while Sokka, Katara and Naruto went off his saddle Aang had already jumped down from Appa´s head and was now looking over the sea. "Aang if we continue to make stops, we´ll never arrive to the north pole" Katara told Aang after she went down from Appa´s saddle.

"Katara! Appa´s clearly tired" Naruto began and looked over to Appa who didn´t look very tired "I said Appa´s clearly tired" Naruto tried again and this time Appa responded in form of a groan. "Wow that sounded convincing" Sokka said sarcastic.

Aang ran over to the sea and pointed at a big gold fish. "That the reason why we're here I always wanted to ride on an elephant koi fish…Katara you have to watch me" Aang told while he was undressing and looked over to Katara.

After Aang was undressed he jumped down in the cold water and began to swim over to the Koi fish. Katara and Sokka looked at each other, they both thought the same thing "_he´s crazy_". When Katara heard a sound of breaking tree behind them she saw that Appa was eating it.

"No Appa don't eat that" she told Appa while she tried to stop him. In the mean time Sokka saw something in the water and tried to warn Aang but it was too late, the fish Aang was riding on suddenly went under the water and Aang was shot forwards.

Aang saw the shadow over him, when he looked behind him and saw a giant fish fin he ran over the water as fast as he could. The giant fish was faster than him, but seconds before the fish got Aang he jumped out of the water right in too Sokka so hard that they flew in to a tree.

"Are you alright Aang?" Katara asked Aang who was now getting dressed "yeah I´m okay but where's Naruto?" Aang asked while he looked at Katara who just shrugged her shoulders. "I only saw that he went into the woods" Sokka told and stood up again.

Before any of them could react they were attacked by some warriors who used the element of surprise to catch them and track them to their village.

_Whit Naruto _

Naruto was looking over a village and saw that Aang, Katara, Sokka and Momo had been captured and were being interrogated by what looked like the village leader. "Kyoshi village. It´s bigger than I thought" Naruto said whit a smile, but the smile disappeared when felt something sharp against his neck.

"Who are you and what the hell, are you doing here?" the person behind Naruto asked "my name is Naruto Kitsune and the reason why I´m here, I always wanted to see a real Kyoshi warrior like you" Naruto answered whit out looking behind him.

"Well you´ll get the chance to see them close by, come on" the woman ordered and took Naruto to the village.

_In the village _

Aang, Katara and Sokka were trying to convince the leader that they don´t mean any harm. "How do we know that you're not fire nation spy? Kyoshi stayed out of the war so far" the leader asked while he looked angry at the group.

"Wait a moment this island is named after Kyoshi I knew her" Aang answered whit smile, but the leader didn´t seem to happy "HA how could you possibly know her. Avatar Kyoshi was born here 400 hundred years ago" the leader told.

"The reason I know her is because I´m the Avatar" Aang explained in calm voice, "that´s an lie everyone knows that last Avatar was a Air bender and they died a hundred years ago" the leader of the woman warrior told. "Suki I found another intruder" the woman told.

"Well done Zhalia, help us throw them to the Onagi" Suki ordered and together whit her sisters she took her battle fans and went down in a battle position. "Aang I think it´s time to show them some Air bending" Sokka Said a little nervous.

Aang inhaled and then he looked down. He blew himself straight up into the air above the top of the pole. He lightly descended back to the ground and lightly touched the ground. "So it true you really are the Avatar" the leader said amazed.

"Now see my newest trick" Aang said whit a smile and pulled out a marble, he then started to spin it between his fingers. The villagers cheered when they saw what Aang, there even were a villager who fainted.

_In a other village_

Words spread fast that the Avatar was on Kyoshi. On a Fire nation ship Zuko and Iroh were getting ready to get something to eat when a servant came in whit a fish and told them the rumor.

"WHAT! The Avatar is on Kyoshi that means the guardian must be whit him, Uncle prepare the rhinos I´ll get them this time" Zuko told. But before he walked out of the room Iroh asked "are you going to finish that?" and pointed at the fish "I was saving that for later!" Zuko answered after he took the fish.

When Zuko walked out of the room Iroh frowned because he didn´t get something to eat.

_Back in Kyoshi village_

The town was happy that they had the Avatar and his guardian on visit, they cleaned up the statue of Kyoshi, the former Avatar. Aang, Katara, Naruto and Sokka were now sitting in the main house of the village and where served something to eat. "This looks exquisite" Naruto said while he took a bite of the cake.

"Katara you have to try this" Aang said and gave Katara a cake while he was eating his one, "maybe only a bit" Katara responded and took the cake. "Hey Sokka you have to try the cakes" Aang told and looked over to Sokka who was brooding in the corner of the room.

"What´s wrong whit him?" Aang asked while he was eating his cake "he´s just upset that a bunch of girls kick his butt" Katara explained whit a smile. "Hey be fair it was a sneak attack in real fight they wouldn't beaten you so easy" Naruto said while he was eating something.

"Yeah in a fair match they wouldn't stand a chance" Sokka told and stood up "I´ll show them a thing or two" Sokka said again while he took some of the cakes, but before he walked out of the room they heard him say" Sokka grumbled.

Naruto sighed when he saw that Sokka walked out off the room. "I´ll make sure he doesn't do something stupid" Naruto said and went after Sokka. "How come Sokka´s so angry, it´s great here?" Aang asked whit a smile while he looked at Katara.

"Hey don´t get to comforted, you know that we can´t stay in one place to long" Katara told Aang who now looked a little disappointed "yeah I know but I´m sure everything will be fine and did you see how happy I made this town" Aang said and looked out off the window.

"They even cleaned the statue of Kyoshi in my honor" Aang said again while he looked over at Katara "well it´s good hear, but don´t let it get to your head Aang" Katara said. "Don´t worry Katara I´m just a simple monk" Aang told and went over to window where he saw a couple of village girls who cheered when they saw him.

Naruto was now standing in what looked like a training field for the Kyoshi warrior. "Where the heck am I? And where did Sokka go?" Naruto asked himself and nearly walked away, but stopped when he heard the sound of battle cries. He went to investigate what it was.

In a little field surrounded by trees stood a black haired young beauty, she was wearing the Kyoshi armor only whit out the makeup and instead of the traditional battle fans she used dual knifes, one of the blades where white, the other where black.

The girl was panting hard, you could clearly see that she had trained for hours, some of the trees had been cut clean. "You really did a number on the trees, Zhalia right?" Naruto said while he walked over to her and gave her a towel. "Yeah that´s right, but what are you doing here Naruto?" Zhalia asked.

"I looked for my friend but when heard your battle cries I went over to see what was happening and I found a fellow dual fighter" Naruto answered whit a smile and patted his dual knife, "you have some too? Can I see them?" she asked a little excited.

"Sure you can" Naruto answered white a kind smile and took out his blades. The blade in his left hand were golden, the other were silver "Zhalia meet Goddess of the sea" showed her the silver blade "and this is goddess of the sky" Naruto while he showed her the golden blade.

"Wow they a beautiful, my blades are called Salvation" showed him the white blade "and destruction" Zhalia said while she showed him her blades. "Why don´t we make a deal if you teach me how to fight whit battle fans I could teach you some tricks whit your dual knifes" Naruto proposed and saw that Zhalia thought about.

"I would love to Naruto, but now lets go back I think I know where your friend is" Zhalia said while she and Naruto stood up again "I´ll follow you everywhere my beauty" Naruto said while he bowed for her and walked back to the village.

Zhalia stood still for a second clearly surprised, "_do he really like me, no one ever said something like that to me_" Zhalia thought whit a blush and followed Naruto.

_An hour earlier_

Sokka had found the Kyoshi warrior's training hall and watched the girls go through what looked like dancing. "So what do you call that dance?" Sokka said sarcastically.

The leader of the Kyoshi warriors looked annoyed and told him what they were doing. "These are not dance moves they are fighting stances meant to improve our discipline and our fighting ability"

"Really it looked like dancing. I could use a warm up, what do you say to a spar?" Sokka asked whit a smile. "I don't know a strong man like you, I wouldn't stand chance" The girl teased, as the other girls giggled. "True I was the best fighter in our village" Sokka proudly told as he stretched his shoulders.

"Okay, but go easy on me. I am only a girl after all" the leader teased again.

Sokka got into a fighting stance and was eyeing every movement of the leader, who just stood still. When Sokka threw a punch at her, she raised her left hand and hit his shoulder hard. "Lucky block, I bet you can't do that again" Sokka said with a smile.

Sokka tried whit a surprise kick but the leader dodged the attack and sent him to ground. That of course angered Sokka so he tried again but the girl slid under his punch turned and threw him out of the dojo.

He stood up again and walked back into the dojo. He walked up to the leader and bowed deeply. "My name is Sokka. I am deeply sorry for insulting you and your ways. You are indeed a better fighter than me. Could you please teach me?" Sokka asked with deep reverence.

"Normally we don´t teach men but since you´re a friend of Avatar we could make exception" the leader told whit a smile. "First my name is Suki. You have to follow all of our traditions" the leader began "of course" Sokka responded while he looked up at the smiling leader.

"I mean all the rules and traditions of the Kyoshi" Suki said again with a smile. The girl looked back at the other girls who just giggled. Ten minutes later Sokka was in makeup and a green battle kimono. My name is Suki

"A dress? Why do I have to wear a dress?" Sokka whined but that only made Suki smile. "That is not a dress it is a battle kimono. And remember you agreed to the terms and that means you have to wear that kimono." Suki replied with her hands on her hips.

"You should be proud wearing that uniform, the golden in sigma shows the honor in the warrior's heart. Now come on lets start the training" Suki told and so they began the Kyoshi training.

After some hours Naruto and Zhalia were walking into the trainings hall. "Hey Sokka, I see your busy training" Naruto said whit smile when he saw Sokka train "hey Naruto, Suki was so nice to train me in the Kyoshi style" Sokka explained whit an equal smile.

"SOKKA! Get to work" Suki ordered whit stern look. When Sokka went back to his training she turned around looking at Naruto and Zhalia "Zhalia, Naruto what are you doing here?" Suki asked confused.

"I was looking for Sokka and found Zhalia training in the woods she was so kind to take here, but whit a trainer like you I know he wound do something stupid" Naruto explained whit a smile and walked away again.

"You like him don´t you?" Suki asked while she looked at Zhalia who was a bit unsure what she should answer, Suki show that and spoke again "you don´t have to answer now Zhalia, let me give you a friendly advice follow your heart" Suki told her friend whit a smile, who smiled back at her.

"I will Suki thanks" Zhalia said whit a smile and walked out of the dojo where she saw Naruto leaned against a tree. "Hey Zhalia, do you want something to eat?" Naruto asked, but before Zhalia could answer they heard her stomach rumble.

"I take that as a yes" Naruto chuckled and together whit Zhalia walked back to the main house to get something to eat.

_Whit Aang_

Aang had used the day to walk around the village followed by his fan girls, even when a painter should make a painting of the Avatar the girls wanted to be in the picture. Aang showed the girls many tricks one of was pushups whit two hands, one hand and whit no hands only using his air bending to make the pushup.

He wanted to impress the girls even more by riding on the Onagi. Aang waited in the water and saw the girls were getting tired of waiting, "I'm sure it´ll be here soon!" Aang yelled over to the girls. he even tried the marble trick but it didn´t help.

"Not that again boring" one of the girls said a little irritated, "where's the Onagi? It´s getting late" another girl asked and stood up like the other girls.

"Wait where you´re going? Don´t leave!" Aang yelled when he saw some of the girls where leaving "sorry Aang maybe next time!" the same girl yelled back and left whit the others.

When the girls were leaving Aang saw Katara coming, Aang hoped she would come, after he told her that he wanted to ride the Onagi. "Katara! You showed up" Aang said happy and whit a big smile "I had to make sure you were save" Katara told while she looked at the smiling Avatar.

"Back when I told you about this you seemed like you didn´t care" Aang told a little sad "I know, I´m sorry Aang" Katara said looking a bit sad "me too. I did let all that attention get to my head I was being a real jerk" Aang admitted looking away.

"Well get out of the water before you get a cold you big jerk" Katara said and saw that Aang were swimming over to her, but was shocked to see that the Onagi rose from the water behind Aang "Aang! Get out of the water" Katara yelled.

But it was too late the Onagi used his tail to fling Aang high up in the air. Before the Onagi could eat him Aang used air bending to hold onto one of its feelers near its gaping maw. As Aang continued to try to avoid being eaten he saw a ship pull into another cove of the island, it was a fire nation navy ship.

"Oh no" Aang whispered and jumped down on the water and used his air bending to run on the water to the shore where Katara waited for him. "Are you alright Aang?" Katara asked worriedly.

"I am fine but we need to get back to the village. The fire nation is here" Aang answered angrily and quickly took his clothes on again "_I won't let the same thing happen to this people what happened to my_" Aang thought while he together whit Katara went back to the village unnoticed by the fire nation.

_By the navy ship _

Zuko and his troops went down the bowsprit. Zuko was wearing his battle armor and together whit 10 of his best fire benders was he riding on some rhinos behind them walked 20 foot soldiers.

The only thing Zuko said to his men before they took off to the Kyoshi village was that he wanted the Avatar alive.

_Back in the village _

Suki and Sokka trained it was clearly to see that Sokka had improved. "Fire benders have landed on our shores hurry up girls" the village leader ordered and ran off again followed by Suki and Sokka who hadn't changed his clothes.

"Come out Avatar you can´t hide forever" Zuko demanded but when nothing happened he ordered his foot soldiers too find him. They split up in groups of 2 and searched every house in the village.

Zuko looked around the village, looking for sneak attacks he had the feeling that something wasn´t right. "Prince Zuko is everything alright?" asked a soldier beside him "yeah everything alright. How long does it take to search a house?" Zuko asked a bit annoyed.

"Don´t bother call for them Zuko they won't come" someone said "where are you? Come out coward" Zuko yelled and saw the Guardian "what´s up Zuko missed me" Naruto said smiling at him.

"I know he is here, now send him out!" Zuko demanded as he nodded to the others with him. They lit the mini catapults attached to their rhinos and fired them at close buildings causing the thatch in the roofs to catch fire.

"Do I have to burn every one of the houses down to get you do as I ask?" Zuko asked him and saw that he went down in an earth bending stance and punched the air that made the sand rise and extinguish the fire. Zuko saw that they were surrounded by the Kyoshi warrior.

"You will stop your attacks on our village!" Suki said to Zuko in a battle stance. "So all they can send after us are a bunch of girls?" Zuko provoked whit a smile.

Several of the rhino riders were dismounted by other Kyoshi warriors. "HA it seems like the girls are better than the big, bad Fire Nation soldiers" Naruto answered whit a smile that caused Zuko to anger.

Suki went straight for Zuko, he shoot some fireballs at her which she easily avoided. She jumped up in the air and wanted to attack Zuko directly, but was hit by the tail of his rhino so hard that it made her crash on the ground.

Zuko wanted to end it whit a final attack and sent a fireball at Suki, before it hit Sokka intervened by using his fan to dodge the fireball. Before he could attack again a Kyoshi warrior jumped down from a building and almost dismounted Zuko from his rhino.

"You will pay for that girl." Zuko said as he picked himself up off the ground. Zuko took a stance and was surrounded by Kyoshi warriors. Zuko easily took down or disabled several of the Kyoshi warriors with little effort.

His only opponent left were Suki and Sokka "_to easy_" he thought and attacked Suki.

_By Naruto and Zhalia_

They were fighting side by side the fire nation soldiers didn´t stand a chance. Zhalia had just disarmed a soldier but didn´t see another one coming behind her, he hid her hard at neck that made her loss conscious.

Naruto made a chunk of earth smash into the fire soldier so hard it send him through one of the buildings. "Hey Zhalia are you alright?" Naruto asked concerned when he saw that she was regaining conscious "yeah I´m only a little dizzy" Zhalia answered and stood up whit Narutos help.

"We´re losing this fight the Kyoshi warrior's weren´t trained to fight skilled fire benders" Naruto told observing the fight, while Zhalia leaned on him "maybe… but no one here in this village are willing to summit to the fire nation. We´ll fight to the end" Zhalia told while she stood on her one.

When Naruto saw the look in Zhalias eyes, he saw the will to fight even if you were half dead. "I know. That´s the reason why I´m going to take this more serious" Naruto told, turned around and looked over at Suki and Sokka who was fighting against Zuko but they were slowly losing.

"Zhalia… find Appa and make him ready if we leave then there shouldn't be a reason for them to stay, I´ll help Suki and Sokka" Naruto told and ran over to Suki and Sokka "be careful Naruto" Zhalia whispered and ran over to the stable.

Suki and Sokka were a great team, when one had attacked and was unprotected the other was there to defend. It annoyed Zuko how good Sukis and Sokkas teamwork were, he didn´t want to fight them he wanted to defeat the Avatar and bring him back to the fire nation.

Zuko wanted to end this he did a sweep kick that send a stream of fire at them. Sokka avoided the attack but Suki wasn´t so lucky she smashed hard against the wall of one of the buildings. Zuko looked around and his men were winning this fight.

"Nice try Avatar but those little girls can´t save you" Zuko said out loud while looked around "hey over here" someone said behind him. Zuko turned around and saw Aang in a ready fighting stance "finally" Zuko whispered and fired several fire balls at him.

Aang easily dodged the fire balls and used his staff to get into the air, but when he landed Zuko kicked the staff out off his hands. Aang jumped back and took two of the Kyoshi battle fans. Before he could attack, Zuko hit so hard by a chunk of earth that it send him trough a building.

"Aang we need to get out of here" Naruto told while he looked over to the building he had sent Zuko trough. "No! We can still win this fight" Aang said looking at Naruto "Aang look around. The Kyoshi warriors are losing the fight and if we fight Zuko now the village will get destroyed" Naruto explained still looking at the building.

Aang looked around and knew why Naruto wanted them to leave. The Kyoshi statue was on fire and so was some of the buildings, the fighting Kyoshi warriors were slowly losing the fight against Zuko´s fire bender. "Okay I´ll go get Katara" Aang said and ran over to Katara who was helping some of the villager's kids.

"Katara! We have to get out of here, if we continue to fight the village will be destroyed" Aang told while he looked at Katara "okay let´s go" Katara said and ran together whit Aang to the stables.

After the fight whit Zuko, Sokka and Suki had hidden themselves behind one of the buildings talking about how they would attack next."Let´s attack them from behind" Sokka suggested and saw Suki nodded "okay let´s do it" Suki agreed and stood up together whit Sokka.

But before they attacked, Naruto came behind them and scared Sokka a little. "Damn don´t scare me like that" Sokka said while he looked at sheepish looking Naruto "sorry about that Sokka but we have to get out of here" Naruto explained and saw that Sokka looked confused.

But before he could say something Suki interrupted him. "His right Sokka you have to leave. There's no time saying goodbye" Suki said while she looked at him "what about I´m sorry" Sokka said while he looked back at Suki "sorry about what?" Suki asked looking a little confused.

"That I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior" Sokka confessed "I am girl" Suki simply said and kissed him on his cheek "but I´m also a warrior" Suki said again and saw that Sokka blushed while he touched his cheek.

"Now get out of here we´ll hold them off. Naruto could you please take Zhalia whit you?" Suki asked, when she saw that Naruto nodded she ran over to her sisters, so she could help them. Sokka and Naruto ran over to the stables to meet the others.

_Over by the stables_

When Sokka and Naruto came over to the stables they saw that Aang were sitting on Appa´s head while Katara were on his saddle. Sokka used Appa´s tail to quickly get in to his saddle.

"Come on Zhalia you can come whit us" Naruto told whit a comforting smile that made Zhalia blush a little, "but what about?" before Zhalia could say more Naruto laid his hand on her shoulder and said "don´t worry Suki knows that your coming whit us."

When Zhalia heard him say that she smiled and went together whit him on Appa´s saddle. When Zuko saw that the Avatar was escaping, he ordered his men "back to the ship don´t lose sight of him." Suki saw them fly away and thought "_be careful Sokka._"

_By Aang and his friends_

While they were flying away, Aang still sat on Appa´s head and looked sad. Katara noticed how sad he looked and decided to cheer him up. "I know it was hard to leave them like this, but Zuko would have destroyed the village if we hadn't left. Aang you did the right think."

Aang suddenly looked determined when he heard what Katara told him and jumped down from Appa, straight for the sea where the Onagi lived in. His friends were worried about what happened after he hit the water but sighed in relief when they saw him appear on the head of the Onagi a moment later.

The Onagi sent a stream of water at the village dowsing the last of the fires. This also woke the unconscious soldiers and soaked Zuko. "_I´ll get you for that Avatar_" Zuko frowned. The Fire Nation packed up and followed Appa as best as they could.

When the fires had all been extinguished Aang levitated back to Appa´s saddle and saw that Sokka, Katara and Zhalia looked at him. "Yeah I know it was dangerous and stupid" Aang said while he sat down "yeah it was" Katara said and hugged him.

"But I´m glad you did" she said again after she had hugged him.


End file.
